Vegetable production becomes boon to Rajshahi slum dwellers

Slum-dwelling households are seen contributing a lot towards ensuring food security through vegetable farming in small lands and rooftops of thatched houses in Rajshahi city.

After meeting up their respective family needs, they are earning money by selling the outputs regularly elevating their level of confidence, reports BSS.

Mainly, they launched the venture in response to the call of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the best uses of every inch of land to eradicate food crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

In the initial stage, the families were given technical support along with the necessary farming inputs of indigenous vegetable seeds, organic fertiliser and caret on behalf of the Bangladesh Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (BARCIK), a development and research organisation.

Champa Rani, a resident of Namo Bhadra slum, said they are being benefited enormously after cultivating both winter and summer vegetables by adopting modern methods almost around the year.

“I cultivated bottle gourd, cucumber, and coriander according to my own choice this year, and I got expected production,” she said, adding they are getting green, fresh and safe vegetables regularly protecting them from various diseases caused by malnutrition.

Rani said, “We have been producing chemical-free vegetables, using organic fertiliser. We are also selling some vegetables in the local market after meeting the family’s demand.”

Inspired, many other fellow people have expressed their interest in producing chemical-free vegetables by using organic methods.

In a choked voice, she stated that her previous life wasn’t pleasant and she struggled to enhance her family income.

To get rid of poverty, she started growing vegetables on her homestead side by side rearing poultry and goats.

Currently, she can fulfil the nutrition demand of her family members with chemical-free vegetables from her own garden and milk, and meat from domestic animals.

Shah Alam, a resident of the Boharampur slum, has been cultivating safe vegetables, including bottle gourd, bean, okra and green chilli for the last two years and become successful in this field.

He distributes his vegetables among his fellow people after meeting his own family’s needs. “I also earn money through selling the harvested vegetables frequently,” said Alam, a driver by profession.

“Organic farming is not only safe but also very profitable. If the weather is favourable and no natural disaster takes place, I can reap double profit from what I invest in growing vegetables,” he explained.

He is one of a handful of cultivators in the slum areas using organic methods and has become one of the most successful vegetable farmers.

He is earning money through selling varieties of vegetables, including red amaranth, spinach, bottle gourd and Indian spinach at present.

With full support from his wife and children, he is growing chemical-free organic vegetables.

“I’ve learnt about the importance of biofertiliser, seed conservation and seed exchange,” he said.

He has also learnt about the proper and sustainable use of homestead lands and rooftops of his thatched house to protect its productivity.

Quoting the slum census in 2014, Shahidul Islam, Regional Coordinator of BARCIK, said there are around 104 big and small slums with 12,202 households consisting of 39,077 people in the city.