Vegetable farming driving women farmers to self-reliance

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DHAKA, Dec 20, 2020 (BSS)- Thirty-nine-year-old Jobeda Khatun had a hard time for last two years after her husband Rahim Mia left her. It put her into hardship as she had to financially support her three children and parents.

She literally became helpless when her husband left her. In the beginning, she worked as a domestic help in the same area of Sadar upazila in Narsingdi district. But, the meagre income was not sufficient to run her family. Even, she was forced to stop the education of her children.

One day, she met with an employee of a local NGO. She advised Jobeda to farm vegetables and other crops in sandy barren char lands.

She has some land and later she took some loan from the NGO and started to farming various vegetables. After only one year, her fate has been changed. She earned Taka 30,000 by selling vegetables.

Like Jobeda thousands of extremely poor people including women living in the 12 remote char unions

of Sadar and Raipura upazilas of Narsingdi district have successfully defeated abject poverty through income generating ventures.

Most of the people here have achieved successes through farming groundnut, sweet potato and various other vegetables in the vast tracts of sandy barren char lands in the basins of the rivers Meghna and Arial Khan.

Besides, a number of poor women living in the char villages of the district have also become self-reliant through rearing of livestock in the char lands, fish farming and duck rearing in the rivers.

Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Shovan Kumar Dhar said that the DAE provided training to the farmers of char villages on groundnut, sweet potato and vegetable farming and distributed seeds and pesticide among them free of cost.

As a result, the farmers have brought about a revolutionary change in the rural economy in the char villages of the district, he added.

Chairman of Raipura upazila parishad Abdus Sadaque said now the people of char villagers are leading a completely changed life with access to sanitation and pure drinking water. Malnutrition to their children, women and pregnant women has also reduced.

Their children are now going schools regularly.