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01 (3)
Stories
January 22, 2024

Kawsar’s Remarkable Journey of Transformation

Kawsar, a 32-year-old, grew up in a disadvantaged family as the youngest of four siblings. His journey began with selling vegetables alongside his father during his childhood. In 2008, he launched a mobile shop specializing in crab sales on Kuakata Beach, using 400 takas as capital. During this time, he successfully generated a daily income of 600 taka by selling 2 kg of crab fry. In 2010 he expanded his business by opening a small-scale establishment, offering lobster, crab, hilsa fry, and even a coffee shop. In 2014, recognizing the growing demand for fish and crab fry, he took a step by launching ‘Kaosar Bhai’s Fish Fry,’ restaurant. At the peak of this venture, he was selling approximately 150 kg of fish and 100 kg of crab every month. Mr. Kawsar collected and preserved fish by using traditional methods. He had to decline his customer base due to serving unhealthy food and not maintaining hygiene properly.  

In 2022, he was included as a member of the value chain sub-project titled ‘Production and Marketing of Safe Fishery Products,’ which is implemented by CODEC, a partner organization of PKSF, as part of the Rural Microenterprise Transformation Project (RMTP). The project provided him with training on maintaining hygiene and producing diversified products, such as (fish burgers, fish balls, fish chips etc). Additionally, a modern table fridge is also supported to him. The project supported him with BDT 100,000 (one lakh) grants and extended a loan of BDT 100,000 (one Lakh) to expand his business.

This is the inception of his smart venture. Currently, there are six skilled employees in his company. The customer base gradually increasing because of the skilled employees, who are dedicated to preparing food by maintaining proper hygiene and serving food by using cold-pressed sunflower oil to meet customer demands. Furthermore, he has provided comfortable seating options with tables, chairs, and benches for customers to enhance both the aesthetics of the shop and the longevity of the food, he also utilizes glass enclosures for food display.

Currently, he collected a variety of fish from rivers and seas, including (Vetki, Hilsa, Lobster, Roopchanda, Tuna, Red Coral, Lakshya, Vole Coral, Shurma, Rupsa, Octopus, Squid, Crab, Red and White Sniper, Salmon etc), he prepares these fish by frying or barbecuing them, and then sells and delivers them to hotels. In addition to direct sales, he also sells various types of river and sea fish prepared as fried and barbecued dishes through platforms like Facebook, IMO, and mobile calls. Every month, he sells approximately 750 kg of fish and 300 kg of crab, with a total of around BDT 60,000 (six lakhs). Excluding all expenses, his net profit amounts to 2 lakh takas.

Kawsar’s dream is to create a brand known as “Kawsar Bhai’s Fish Fry Ghar,” with a mission to provide consumers with safe, ready-to-eat fish products delivered directly to their homes. By seeing the success of Mr. Kawser, several fish fry shops hygienically serve food along with lucrative decoration. Local government officials and local administrations lauded Mr Kawsar’s innovative initiative and urged everyone to promote his novel concept at Kuakata Beach.

By Ehsanul Habib
32 (3)
News & Events
January 22, 2024

Mid-Term Evaluation Findings and Result Sharing Workshop of RMTP

On December 7, 2023, a workshop titled ‘Mid-Term Evaluation Findings and Result Sharing Workshop of RMTP’ was conducted. Nobolok, a partner organization of PKSF, organized the event. Dr. Akand Md Rafiqul Islam, Senior General Manager of PKSF and Project Coordinator of RMTP, chaired the workshop and the Partner Organizations executive directors and directors, Project Focal and Project Manager/VCF of Khulna Division attended the workshop physically. Additionally, 100 participants of the same category from all the implementing POs of RMTP, and PMU of RMTP joined the workshop virtually.

During the workshop, Dr Islam presented the progress, lessons learned, mid-term evaluation findings, and results. He highlighted the significant progress made by the project within a short period, to the support of implementing partners. Mr Islam also mentioned that several agricultural products of RMTP are now available in the market with ISO, Halal, and BSTI certification and urged all POs to do the same. He shared the mid-term evaluation findings and IFAD mission findings with the participants.

Implementing partner organizations also took the opportunity to share their lessons learned, progress, and success stories during the workshop. The executive director of ESDO emphasized the importance of such events in facilitating mutual learning among partners regarding each other’s activities and innovative works. The workshop provided a platform for acquiring new ideas, and the hope is to implement similar activities in the field.

Implementing partner organizations also took the opportunity to share their lessons learned, progress, and success stories during the workshop. The executive director of ESDO emphasized the importance of such events in facilitating mutual learning among partners regarding each other’s activities and innovative works. The workshop provided a platform for acquiring new ideas, and the hope is to implement similar activities in the field.

By Ehsanul Habib
SHARP (205)
Stories
September 25, 2023

High demands of Kaiyum’s Pro-Tray Nursery Seedling

Kaiyum, a 43-year-old farmer from Panchbibi sub-district in Joypurhat, traditionally reared livestock animals and earned 10,000 takas each month. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had to sell his animals to meet his family’s financial needs. Subsequently, he leased 100 decimals of agricultural land to produce vegetables. Unfortunately, he found that there was a lack of quality vegetable seedlings in his area. To address this problem, he decided to produce high-quality seedlings himself and supply them to local farmers to increase their production.

Fortunately, the RMTP project introduced Kaiyum to the “Pro Tray Nursery Seedling” technique, which is part of the “Eco-friendly safe vegetable cultivation and marketing” sub-project. The project provided him with capacity building training, technical support, coco media, 250 reusable plastic trays, quality seeds, mulching papers, green netting, and other resources.

Kaiyum invested 40,000 takas of his own money into the venture. The project also assisted him in marketing his seedlings to farmers through various meetings. Within 25 days, Kaiyum sold 25,000 seedlings in the first round of production. He then purchased an additional 100 plastic trays to expand seedling production for the second round, during which he sold 32,000 seedlings.

He now produces various types of seedlings in his nursery, including green chilli, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, cabbage, cucumber, tomato, bottle gourd, pumpkin, capsicum, papaya, and bean. Currently, there are 97,500 seedlings in his nursery, and he is taking advance orders from farmers for their supply. 

He now earns 30,000 takas each month, and three women work in his farm and are also learning this modern technology. Kaiyum’s wife, Emroja, directly manages the nursery and has increased her efficiency in this regard. Due to the high demand for pro tray seedlings in his area, Kaiyum plans to expand his business and has set a target of producing 100,000 seedlings in each cycle.

One farmer, Md. Hasan Ali Bakul, said, “I have used Kaiyum’s nursery’s seedlings, which are of good quality and have increased my vegetable production.”

By Ehsanul Habib
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News & Events
September 21, 2023

Associate Vice President of IFAD expressed his satisfaction over the activities of RMTP

On August 22, 2023, Dr. Donald Brown, the Associate Vice President of IFAD, visited the activities of RMTP at PKSF’s PO ESDOs field in the Thakurgaon district. During his visit, he visited several activities of the project such as transformation of milk into cheese, the processing of grass into silage, and the production and marketing of safe vegetables. Dr. Brown expressed his admiration for the remarkable progress achieved by the project. Accompanying him on this visit were Mr. Md. Fazlul Kader, Additional Managing Director of PKSF, Dr. Arnoud Hameleers, Country Director of IFAD Bangladesh Office, Dr. Akand Md. Rafiqul Islam, Senior General Manager of PKSF, and Dr. Md. Shahid Uz Zaman, Executive Director of ESDO.

By Ehsanul Habib
02
News & Events
September 21, 2023

Farm mechanization & modernization technology introduced at field level

RMTP is promoting the adoption of farm mechanization and modernization technologies for livestock, poultry, horticulture, and fisheries producers. Through strategic partnerships with leading private sector entities like BRAC, Trade Global Limited, ACI, NARISH, Kazi and Kazi, and Aftab, the project ensures convenient access to technical and technological support at the farmers’ doorsteps. This initiative aims to enhance productivity and efficiency while minimizing costs for farmers, reflecting RMTP’s commitment to leverage private sector expertise for agricultural advancement.

By Ehsanul Habib