Instead of extorting or collecting money from people, a group of third-gender people (hijras) in Gazipur has taken up farming. They are growing rice and various vegetables in their fields, and want to stand on their own feet and remove the stigma society attaches to them.

A group of hijras in the Baimail area under Konabari police station of Gazipur City Corporation has chosen farming as a profession. They are now attracting attention by sharecropping other people's land to grow rice and other crops.

This year they have taken 13 bigha of land in the Baimail area of the city on sharecrop terms and started growing rice, onion, garlic, sweet pumpkin, tomato and other crops. As well as tending the crops themselves, they hire day labourers. They also have a cattle farm at their home.

Local people said a group of 32 hijras lives in the Baimail Bashtala area under Konabari police station. They used to make a living by collecting money and necessities from shops and homes, which annoyed people. At one point their conscience troubled them too, so they chose farming as a profession and are now cultivating sharecropped land.

The hijras say that like ordinary people they have hands and feet, are healthy and can work hard, so they want to earn their living by working like everyone else. For that they need the support of the well-off in society; if well-off people come forward, they will be able to live normally by working.

They said two men, Faisal Ahmed and Ramiz Uddin, gave them 13 bigha of their abandoned land to cultivate on sharecrop terms, without taking any money. The land was full of jungle and unfit for farming. With day labourers and their own hard work they made it cultivable. They have grown rice on 11 bigha, and onion, garlic, tomato, sweet pumpkin and other crops on two bigha. It cost them a great deal of money in the first year.

Much more land lies abandoned in various areas. They hope that if the owners of that land look their way, they will be able to grow rice and other crops on a much larger scale in future.

Shilpi, a member of the third-gender community, said: "Let the people of the country see that if we are helped, we can also do something. If society gives us the chance, we can stand on our own feet. If we can harvest the rice on time, we will be able to meet our own needs and also sell in the market."

She said: "What we get by asking people does not meet our needs. So after a lot of thought we decided to take up farming. This year we took 13 bigha on sharecrop terms and planted rice, onion, garlic, tomato, sweet pumpkin and other crops."

Md Saiful Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Gazipur, said: "The neglected hijra community has taken up farming as a profession, which is a good initiative. We give farmers various kinds of government support, but a national identity card is needed for that. If the hijras contact us, we will help them in various ways like everyone else. They will be given all kinds of farming support so that they can live like other people in society and become self-reliant."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.