Duck rearing, poultry farming bring smile on rural women’s faces

Jashoda Roy, a successful small entrepreneur, had to face extreme economic hardship in the past. Amol Roy, her auto-rickshaw puller husband, was the sole breadwinner in the family. Now she is passing busy time at her poultry farm. Jashoda has 123 ducks and over 150 poultry birds. She started her farm two years back. She used to live in village Moheshkhali in Chawkaria upazila in Cox's Bazar district. Her husband Amol Roy was a locally-made three wheeler auto-rickshaw puller. But he received injuries in a road accident three years ago. After the incident, he sold his auto-rickshaw. Jashoda became helpless as the only income person her husband Amol couldn't do anything. She fell into deep trouble to run her seven-member family. Later, she decided to do a poultry farm and bought 20 ducks and 30 poultry birds from the local market and started the business. She also took training from a NGO on duck rearing and poultry farming. Like Jashoda, many women of the area started poultry farms. Duck rearing and poult ry farming have brought smiles on the face of the poor rural women of the area as they are becoming self-reliant with significant rise in their monthly earnings. Although most of the small scale women farmers in the rural areas complaint that they have no adequate loan facilities from the government while the microcredit run by different non-government organisations (NGOs) is not so easy to refund and it (loan payment) subsequently creates a burden on the clients due to its higher rate of interest. Jashoda said, "I am earning at least Taka 20,000 to 23,000 in a month through rearing ducks and poultry birds. Now, my three children are going to school and college regularly. My elder daughter is going to college and my two sons are studying in school." Another woman of the same area Rashida said, "I've started my own farm taking Taka 30,000 loan from a local NGO. Every week, I've to repay the loan with interest. If we could get government loans with low interest, then it would be beneficial for us." She said, "Along with the farm, I've six kathas of land where I planted different types of vegetables." Upazila Livestock Officer said, "We are trying to provide all facilities to rural farmers. Our official staff visits different villages of the upazila and they are giving advice about farms. Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha