In Khankandi village, Bikenagar union, Zajira upazila, Shariatpur, the shady corner of a yard that lay unused for years is now lined with sacks of green ginger plants. BSS reports that woman entrepreneur Irin Akter started a trial with 200 sacks, with technical support from the NGO Shariatpur Development Society (SDS) and the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF).
Using compost she made herself, with seed and pesticide supplied by the NGO, her production costs were close to nothing. Irin said she expects to meet her family's needs and sell about Tk 40,000 worth of ginger after costs. Jharna Akter in the same village has planted 250 sacks; tending them between household chores, she sees a threefold return and plans to grow more next season.
Following their lead, at least 10 more women in Bikenagar now grow ginger in sacks, each yielding about one to one and a half kilos. Zajira upazila agricultural extension officer Muslima Jahan Linia said women are using neglected yard space not only to meet their own needs but to earn money that strengthens their families.
The method has spread to other districts. In the high red-soil areas of Madhupur, Tangail, farmers report double yields at low cost from sacks set in shady yards. In flood-prone chars of Jamalpur, sacks kept on raised homesteads or yards can be moved when water rises, so floods do not destroy the crop, and many women there now grow ginger alongside raising ducks and chickens.
Mohammad Alam Sharif Khan, deputy director of agricultural extension in Jamalpur, said sack ginger can be grown in yards, on roofs or in shady unused spaces, is better protected from disease and disasters, costs little, needs little care and yields well. SDS agriculture officer Md Mostafa Kamal said such initiatives can help cut the ginger shortfall the country now meets with imports from China and India.
Image: botanical illustration of the ginger plant. Photo: Franz Eugen Köhler / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: BSS
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