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.

Proud members of the group along with 

Fazlur Rahman, Field Facilitator  and marketing LSP Saidur Rahman

Suzi Begum, Sheuli Begum, Saju Begum, Kohinur Begum, Sanoara Begum, Md. Shahalam, Md. Sujan, Mst Lipi, Khaleda Akter and Mst Polin from Baherchar village, Melandaha Upazila, in Jamalpur District are member of different beneficiaries groups under the Cross-border TATI&MD project. They have received training on vegetable and rice cultivation along with working capital, but also in marketing and exploring different markets. All of them are experienced banana cultivators, who, on an individual level, were never very successful in selling their individual harvest well. After receiving training they decided to start something where they will share success and failure equally. “We were fortunate to receive training from the local service provider (LSP). We got the idea to start this business together and the ideas on marketing from LSP Saidur Rahman helped us a lot. Also the technical advice is a strong support to our banana farm. If we can pull this through we will expand our farm and go for commercial production”, says Kohinur Begum, one of the group members. 

Name of item	Quantity	Price (BDT)	Total price (BDT)
Quality suckers	2040	6	12,240
Fertilizers	-	-	5,000
Pesticides	40	380	15,200
Irrigation	-	-	5,000
Labour cost	20	350	7,000
Annual lease for land			16,000
		Total	60,440

 Total investment from the team till June 2013

In January 2013 they agreed to lease together 2.30 acres of fallow land in their area. They agreed to pay BDT80,000[1] as lease money for a period of five years. They so far spent BDT60,440. According to their business development plan, they need to spend another BDT50,000 the coming days before harvesting. The total cost are expected to be BDT110,000 including first year’s payment of BDT16,000 for the land. According to their business development plan they are expecting a total of BDT 500,000 from the sale. “The good news is our total cost will go down from next year onwards. We only have to pay BDT16,000 for land and spend about BDT10,000 for cultivation. We will already have suckers from our own farm. Moreover, we may earn BDT74,000 (BDT6*12,350) from suckers sales” says Khaleda Akter.

From the very beginning the members of the small enterprise felt they needed to keep transparency in financial issues to avoid disputes. They selected member Md. Shahalam as cashier to keep financial records and take care of sales and marketing. Not only that, they also started a saving scheme where all members weekly save BDT10. Additionally, each member has to deposit BDT500 every month to pay for cultivation cost. Md. Shahalam, cashier of the enterprise stated his experience saying: "I was privileged when group members selected me as their cashier. However, I did not know what to do exactly or how to fulfill their expectations. Md. Saidur Rahman, Local Service Provider helped me to prepare the financial plan and also guided me to negotiate a good price with the banana wholesaler”. 

Field Facilitator Fazlur Rahman, a staff member of the Cross-border project is monitoring the activities of the small enterprise: “Activities of the enterprise prove that different individuals can work together if they have a common goal and good guidance from an expert like Md. Saidur Rahman”. 

The banana dream field

Comparing their individual experience in selling their banana produce last year to the deal they made with the wholesaler this year, the group feels in a much better position. Earlier they could not sell to a wholesaler as their produce was to little so they depended on the local market and got lower prices When the wholesaler visited their banana field, the group could barely believe that they had nailed the deal saying: “Everything is different this season from the investment to the profit and risk sharing.”

Md. Saidur Rahman, Marketing LSP says about the group: "Formation of the enterprise was a complex process with so many long discussions different opinions. It was tough to reach a common understanding fitting in all their requirements. Their banana farm looks great and we are expecting to have a very good and quality harvest coming November”.

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[1] BDT 80 = USD 1