Income generating activities make Rajshahi women self-reliant

Shefali Tudu, 42, a member of Mundumala Mohila Somobai Samity in Tanore upazila in Rajshahi, has brought happiness to their four-member family through homestead gardening after taking a loan from the cooperative association.

Tudu said they have been producing chemical-free vegetables, using vermin compost. They are also selling some vegetables in the local market after meeting the family’s demand.

She added that chemical-free vegetables are in high demand in the village, and locals purchase the vegetables at higher prices.

They cultivate red leafy, bottle gourd, carrot, snake gourd and napa shak on 40 decimals of land by using bio-fertiliser.

Tudu does not go to the local market to sell the vegetables, rather villagers come to her home to purchase vegetables at high prices.

If all the farmers grow chemical-free vegetables by using vermicompost on their lands, it will meet people’s demand for chemical-free foods, Tudu continued.

Suborna Khatun, 45, a resident of Bidirpur village at Mohanpur Upazila, has become an icon for her various income-generating cooperative activities.

“I had taken Tk 15,000 from our Ghashful Mohila Somobai Samity in Mohanpur upazila of the district as a loan for the first time in 2016,” she said.

She has expanded her ventures to diversified fields, including homestead gardening, poultry bird rearing, beef fattening and potato farming at present after the best use of the borrowed money.

“I have learnt how to become self-reliant through income-generating activities and to contribute to society,” she said.

Rozina Begum, 38, of Khoira village under Mohanpur upazila has become almost self-reliant through manufacturing vermicompost. With her husband Abu Bakkar’s close collaboration, she established a household factory for manufacturing organic fertilizer.

Vermicompost fertilizer, one kind of organic fertilizer made from earthworms, has started becoming popular in the region.

Rozina Begum is now an ideal in their village as she shed the light on knowledge of producing vermicompost fertiliser.

She said only earthworm and cow dung are used in producing vermicompost fertiliser which also helps protect the environment, maintain the fertility of the land, increase the resistance power of crops against diseases and escalate crop production.

Cooperative has taught the village people to help each other and eradicate their plights, she added.