Women on the chars of Kurigram are trying to get back on their feet by growing vegetables around their homesteads and raising livestock. The crops of the neglected communities on the remote chars along the Brahmaputra in Chilmari upazila are damaged by floods every year, and this year was no exception.

This year's floods again caused heavy crop losses, leaving many families there in economic hardship. Women from these families are trying to make up their losses by growing vegetables in and around their homesteads, and these poor char women also dream of changing their fortunes by raising sheep, ducks and chickens.

Many others are inspired by their efforts. The floods badly damaged their rice seedbeds, field crops, homestead vegetables and poultry, and destroyed houses, cattle feed and haystacks.

To reduce the losses, the non-government development organisation Friendship came forward alongside the government. With help from its Transition Fund (ASD) project, women from the affected families began growing vegetables at home and raising ducks, chickens and sheep, and their living standards began to change.

Alongside awareness activities, they put the training they received to use. When the road from Sardarpara in Kurigram Sadar upazila to the union parishad, market, hospital, schools and colleges broke, causing great hardship, they repaired the flood-damaged village road collectively.

Mst Bulbuli Begum is a member of the Naiyarchar FDMC in Nayarhat union of Chilmari upazila. She received a sheep worth Tk 3,600 from Friendship's Transition Fund (ASD) project, and from it she now has four sheep with a current market value of Tk 16,000.

Bulbuli Begum said: "After training in modern vegetable production, I grew vegetables at home and sold Tk 5,100 worth this year, which is going towards household costs, and I bought a goat with Tk 8,000 from selling vegetables."

Ayub Ali, Sumari Begum, Behula Khatun and Kachiran Begum of the same village said: "We used to buy fertiliser from the market; now we make and use compost. We kill pests with pheromone traps, contact various offices to get government benefits, and are determined to stop child marriage in the village."

Agriculturist Md Ashraful Islam Mallik, project manager of Friendship's Transition Fund (ASD) project, said that with support from Friendship Luxembourg, members' economic development, asset growth and good governance in society are being achieved by making their incomes regular.

The project is also supporting a total of 721 members on 24 chars in Kurigram Sadar, Chilmari and Rowmari upazilas with education sessions on preventing child marriage, stopping domestic violence, understanding parliament and the constitution and how to file a GD, along with building capacity to cope with disasters, reducing the community's geographic vulnerability and developing local infrastructure.

Chilmari upazila livestock officer Mohammad Rashidul Haque said 211 families in Chilmari have been given sheep and training through Friendship's Transition Fund project, creating a chance to earn more in a short time. Every sheep has been given vaccines and dewormers free of charge.

He said char areas are well suited to sheep rearing and he is hopeful that char people will become self-reliant through it.

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