Stories
Belal Hossain, a 40-year-old farmer from the Punchbibi sub-district of Joypurhat, has been cultivating vegetables, paddy, and other crops on his lands for a long time, but he found it to be not very profitable. To support his family’s needs, he had to take lease lands from others. However, the income he generated was barely enough to manage his two daughters’ education costs. Feeling frustrated, Belal started seeking new techniques and methods of cultivation.
Fortunately, Belal has been a member of the microcredit group of PKSF’s Partner Organization, JAKAS Foundation for the last eight years. He was selected as a project participant for the “Eco-friendly vegetable cultivation and marketing” sub-project, which is being implemented by JAKAS and supported by PKSF, IFAD, and DANIDA under the Rural Microenterprise Transformation Project (RMTP).
As part of the sub-project, Belal received training on eco-friendly vegetable cultivation, nutrition, environment, and social issues. He tested the soil quality and sowed 1600 broccoli seedlings in 16 decimals of land. Additionally, he cultivated master oil seeds around the broccoli cultivated area. Within 25-60 days, he harvested broccoli and sold each piece for BDT 30 to local traders. He earned BDT 48,000 by selling broccoli and another 1500 taka from the master oil seeds.
Project intervention of RMTP
Profitability of 22 demos of RMTP
- Training on eco-friendly vegetable cultivation
- Market linkage
- Demo plot established
- Pesticide residual test support
- Land usages for vegetable cultivation 276 decimals
- Production cost total 234,075 BDT
- Produced 31,411 kilograms of vegetables
- Total sales reached 527,450 BDT
Following the success of this year’s cultivation, Belal is planning to cultivate broccoli in 50 decimals of land next year. He is currently cultivating other vegetables on the said land, following the guidelines of eco-friendly vegetable cultivation. With his new techniques and knowledge, Belal has made double the profit and is now able to support his family’s needs better.
