Career of livestock LSP Belal Hossain

LSP Belal vaccinating poultry on-farm

38 years old Local Service Provider (LSP) Belal Hossain is one of the most sought after men in the periphery of 25 villages in the Upazilas Jamalpur district for his knowledge and skills in livestock management. Especially his expertise in artificial insemination in cows and goats is well known. The journey of Belal’s career was not easy. After beginning his career as a small landholder and marginal farmer he had to face many ups and downs in his one and half decades of career journey to become a private service provider and employer of a small workforce.

Nur Khatun grows more rice with SRI

Proud Nur Khatun in her rice field

Nur Khatun and her husband Enamul Haque knew that it would be a risk to adopt a new rice cultivation method which is not used by anyone they knew. It could well have been that they would not harvest any rice. Nur Khatun, is a field crop and vegetable beneficiary of the Cross-border project in the village of Poravita in Parramrampur Union, Dewangang, Jamalpur.

Synthesis of the web discussion titled ‘Role of the Private Sector and Civil Society in Strengthening Research-Extension Linkages’

SATNET has organised its fourth electronic discussion on ‘Role of the Private Sector and Civil Society in Strengthening Research-Extension Linkages’ which was initiated on Friday, 13 September 2013 through the LinkedIn platform. Twelve network participants from Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan and Taiwan, participated in the discussion.

In addition to providing an opportunity for mutual learning on this important topic amongst SATNET participants, it is envisaged that this online discussion will also contribute useful inputs towards the Expert Consultation which will be organised December, 2013 in Thailand. The synthesis of this discussion can be found on SATNET website.

A smile on rice farmer Omia’s face

SRI brought smile on Mst. Omia Begum’s face

Rice is the largest cultivated crop in Bangladesh and nationwide farmers are using more land to grow rice than any other crop. However, in the past years’ more and more farmers shifted from rice cultivation to other crops due to low harvests and high cost for inputs. Most farmers blame changes in climate in recent years. Some farmers believe that their traditional methods are to blame and Ms. Omia of Chengtimari village, Parramrampur Union (Dewangonj Upazilla) is one of them. The winter of 2012-2013 made a difference for her when she, for the first time, used SRI[1] practices to cultivate rice. 

Rokhsana and her Vegetable Garden

Rokhsana is collecting vegetables from her field

“Malnutrition is one of the main causes of health problems in our area. According to the doctors vegetables can provide the required nutrition for the children of our village to improve their health. I was encouraged by this fact to start a vegetable garden of my own. My garden provides nutrition for my family and it helps me to earn money” said Rokhsana Begum. She has been cultivating vegetables for last three years, yet found success recently. This year she invested BDT1,350 in  vegetables cultivation on 0.12 acres of her family land and made a profit of BDT5,985[1]. 

Showcasing Cross-border project in national level seminar

Cross-border project team is preparing the project stall

Cross-border project team has participated in a national level seminar titled “Enhancing Rural Prosperity through Inclusive & sustainable agricultural value chains in Bangladesh” which held during 14-15^th of September, 2013 in CIRDAP International Conference Centre, Dhaka. Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation (HSI), the technical partner of Cross-border project has organised the seminar to showcase its own and likeminded organisations activities. Local Service Providers (LSPs), Government and private sector enterprises, donors, research institutes and academia’s were present in the two daylong seminars.

LSPs and staffs from Cross-border project has visited SDC-Samriddhi project in Pabna

LSP visit in Pabna

A 21 member’s team consisting staffs and Local Service Providers (LSPs) from Cross-border TATI&MD project has visited Pabna during 25^th to 28^th September, 2013. Main objective of the visit was to learn about the development and expanding strategy of Service Providers Associations (SPA) from the project experience of SDC-Samridhdhi project, implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation (HSI). Some coments are given from the LSPs below. 

Shahana Begum fights poverty

“Being poor and being a mother of two children is not a nice feeling. My husband is a rikshaw puller and also sometimes works as a day labourer. Since I have my own family, every day I wished for some financial help and a way out so that I can leave poverty behind and give my family two proper meals a day and a house to live in. The local service provider trained me in livestock rearing and the Cross-border project provided me three goats and some capital which helped me to start my fight against being poor”, says Shahana Begum, a beneficiary of the Cross-border TATI&MD project.

A banana dream in Melandaha

Ten individuals, ten dreams yet they are working together in the same project. The dreamers believe that they will harvest their dream from their banana field. They formed a small enterprise and started cultivating ‘Sagar’, a popular local banana variety.

Hasna Hena – An undertaking Vegetable Farmer

Hasna Hena is 38 years old and mother of two daughters and a son. Her husband and his brothers have been growing vegetables on a common family plot since long. Now she grows vegetables on her own plot. She considers her vegetable garden vital in supporting their children’s education. She speaks about her children and their education with pride: “My income from the vegetable farm helped me to continue my children’s education”. She is cultivating different types of vegetables on the plot such as Eggplant, Okra, Bitter gourd, Yard long bean and Kang kong on a family plot of 0.18 acre. Hasna is involved in the Cross-border project since 2012. She is a member of the vegetable beneficiary group named ‘Dholeshshori’ in Degree Panchbari village, Sarishabari Upazila, Jamalpur. After joining the group she received training on vegetable cultivation and high quality vegetable seeds. She also received BDT1500  as working capital, which she spent on organic fertilizer, organic and some inorganic pesticides and irrigation.

Marketing Vegetables in Ujanpara

Adar Ali is the president of the committee that runs the vegetable and rice collection point in Ujanpara, a village in Laxmichar Union, Jamalpur district. In 2011 under the Food Facility project[1], farmers in the village received training in marketing and learned how to explore market opportunities. After the training, the farmers decided to try and sell their produce together. They learned that a collection point would be of great use to sell collectively. Adar Ali was a very active participant in the training and had been in the forefront to motivate other farmers to start selling together. In June 2011 they established the village collection point and elected a 7-member committee to run the collection point and represent farmers. Members were selected based on their trustworthiness, active involvement and leadership qualities and Adar Ali was elected as their president. Under the present Cross-border project, 10 more farmer groups from surrounding villages Maddhapara and Mollahpara have been trained and joint the collection point. 

How SRI changes paddy practices

That the family of Lokman Ali and Buli Khatun could harvest twice the amount of paddy from the same piece of land this past winter season compared to last year, surprised many neighbouring farmers in Dudhiyagacha, a village in Adarvita Union in Madarganj, Jamalpur. As last year early 2012, the family cultivated paddy from February to May on a plot of land of 0.33 acre. “Last year I harvested 720 kg of paddy from this plot but this year it was more than twice that amount, a good1600 kg!”, said Lokman Ali. His wife Buli Khatun is very happy with the big amount of paddy they grew this year. Together with their two sons, she helped her husband with the harvest: “My husband also has a small furniture shop in Madarganj market, but his income is not regular and insufficient (BDT 4,500[1]) for our family. We are very happy with our big harvest of rice. It will feed our family (two meals per day for five people) throughout the year.”

Paddy Cultivation Following SRI Method

Din Mohammad Ali and Sanbau Bibi are paddy farmers with long years of experience. At the age of 60, Din Mohammed discovered another approach to paddy cultivation. They own 1.32 acres of arable land and for the first time this year they cultivated rice following the practices of System of Rice Intensification  on part of their land. Din Mohammed said, “I found paddy cultivation following the SRI method, systematic and profitable as it decreases production cost and increases yield compared to our traditional way of cultivating.”

Jahanara and her Vegetable Garden

Jahanara Begum (40) from Degree Panchbari, a village in Sarishabari Upazila, Jamalpur district always dreamed of financial safety for her family. With her husband and their two sons, she struggled on a day-to-day basis to make ends meet. She never thought that her small vegetable garden would give them this safety.

Multi-layered vegetable cultivation: Opportunity for poor farmers

Some months ago smallholder farmers of Nakati village, Kendua Union in the Upazila Jamalpur Sadar were not ready to believe that vegetable cultivation could bring fortune to them, but now they are. Four neighbor farmers, Rotna Begum (25), Fatema Begum (30), Jomila Begum (35) and Amir Uddin (40) set an example. They started a small enterprise, cultivating mixed vegetables in a multi-layer system and after a few months of cultivation started harvesting success. Many of the villagers became interested to follow their example and start vegetable cultivation to make a better livelihood. 

Muslema: local service provider in vegetable production

Since 2010, Muslema is local service provider (LSP) in Madarganj and specialized in vegetable production. She has been trained in vegetable and crop production by the district extension agents in the horticulture training centre in Jamalpur district under the “Cross-border Transfer of Agricultural Technology, Institutional and Market Development” project. She attends regularly monthly meetings of beneficiary groups in her area. During the meeting she gives technical training and the groups plan for service provision for their members and other farmers in their community.

Cross-border TATI&MD project: A new window for sharing Agriculture Technology and Knowledge

‘The experience and knowledge we have gathered here will help us to ensure better and effective project implementation in Assam’ said Amiya Kumar Sharma, ED, Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi (RGVN) while he was leading a five member team from RGVN, Assam, India for a study visit in Bangladesh during February 3-7, 2013. Annet Witteveen, Head of Food Security and Livelihood Unit, CUB welcomed the team and wished all a very fruitful and enjoyable visit in Bangladesh. The visit was a part of exchanging experiences on developing local service provision under the Cross-border project which is funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by Concern Universal (CU), Bangladesh.

Local services provision for vegetable production & marketing

The “Cross-border Transfer of Agricultural Technologies, Institutional and Market Development” project of Concern Universal focuses on improving food security and nutrition for the poorest and most vulnerable in South Asia to contribute towards achieving the Million Development Goal 1. Though the project covers only the two neighboring countries Bangladesh and India, the impact is expected to influence beyond the target due to exposure and inter-country learning in the region. Improved linkages to input and output market actors, better marketing and value chain development are one of the results expected from the project.