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.