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.

Jahanara in her Vegetable garden

Jahanara Begum got involved with in the Cross-border project in December 2012. As a member of a vegetable cultivation group she got her first training on vegetable gardening in January 2013. In February, after the training she received some quality vegetable seeds and started her vegetable garden on 0.04 acre fallow land beside her house. She cultivated eggplant, okra, yard long bean, pumpkin, amaranth, sweet gourd, jute leaf, kang kong etc. After three months she harvested and sold the first lot of her vegetables at the local market. Jahanara Begum said, “I have sold 200 kg of vegetable and earned BDT 3,200 . The garden not only helped me to earn money but also feeds my family the last month. I have bought a small goat and saved BDT 500 for the next cultivation season. LSP Babul Mia helped me to find quality seed and good fertilizers. I am planning to extend my garden in the future. Babul is also helping me to do the proper planning.”

Babul Mia, a local service provider trained under the Cross-border TATI&MD project, has visited the vegetable garden of Jahanara regularly and supported throughout the cultivation process. He said, “Jahanara Begum is a brave and hardworking lady. She already bought a small goat with her earnings from the vegetable garden and is planning to buy another one shortly after her second harvest. She is now thinking of expanding her garden and I am supporting her to look into other markets to sell her vegetables.”