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Credits, trainings transformed their lives beyond expectations
***"I never knew there was good money ingrowing nursery until the Technical Resource Team attd the Rural Development Academy at Bogra gave me the know-how and guided me to investing in it my first loan of Ik 2,000 in 1902. Thai led to a solid profit ofTk 20,000. Can you believe that? I gained in self-confidence and soon went for a second loan ofTk 5,000 and took more land orf lease to grow plants. The nationwide campaign for growing more trees came as a boon. In 19931 made a profit ofTk 38,000 by selling saplings of fruit and timber trees. I went for a third loan ofTk 5,000, took some more land and by investing Tk 35,000 made a profit ofTk 2,50,000 in 1993-94. Now I am negotiating to buy the leased land. That will put me on a more solid footing."***
***The TRT people from Bogra helped her in making an incubator operational with local technology at a cost of only Tk 9,000. An imported one would cost at least Tk 400.000. The electrically-run machine can also hatch 450 duck eggs at a time. By selling one-day and 28-day chicks to the eager poultry raisers of the locality she now earns about Tk 20,000 a month. She has so far taken three loans amounting to a total ofTk 11,500.***
Nurjahan Begum, tn her late thirties, dark complexloned Nurjahan. known for her admirable Journey from a very poor existence to a solvent life in no more than a couple of years narrate how her initiation into MBSS. credit and training transformed her life beyond her own belief.
. She said. 'T never knew there was good money in growing nursery until the Technical Resource Team and the Rural .Development Academy at Bogra gave me the know-how and. guided me to investing in it my firgt loan of Tk 2.000 in 1992. That led to a solid profit ofTk 20.000. Can you believe that? I gained in self-confidence and soon went for a second loan of Tk 5.000 and took more land on lease to grow plants. The nationwide campaign for growing more trees came as a boon. In 1993 1 made a profit of Tk 38.000 by selling saplings of fruit and timber trees. I went for a third • loan of Tk 5.000. took some more land and by investing Tk / 35.000 made a profit of Tk 2.50.000 in 1993-94. Now I am negotiating to buy the leased land. That will put me on a more solid footing.''
As she spoke. s”he glanced again and again at the beaming face of young Field Organiser . and added, "she never failed to stand by my side". Nurjahan then gave us a tour of her nursery. She satd she had about 100.000 mature plants ready for sale and expected to get good profit after covering her investment .of Tk 40.000.
Her nursery occupied about four bighas of land. As the mature saplings are sold aifey she prepares the soil for plantation so the nursery is never empty But then you have to have the know-how to take care of the soil's nutrition and look after the health of the young plants.
As Nutjahan moved through the narrow lanes of her nursery she exuded art abundance of self-confidence, unlike most
other poor women of rural Bangladesh. She has already put her two daughters in school. Her little son was around. He is still too young to realise why words pf his mother's success attract more and more visitors from far and near. Nurjahan herself is unruffled by the impact of her fame. She is remarkably pragmatic and down-to-earth to be carried away by fame for she knows only too well mere fame cannot feed her family. Her policeman husband, who lives In Dlnajpur. visits them occasionally.
■In fact, she is not alone to claim such a success Ten other members of her Society — Champa. Monowara. Morsheda, Saleha. Sajeda. Rubi. Jhalmall. Beauty. Peara and Haslna — have achieved equally impressive successes in nursery business The truth is that Saleha. the society manager, and Sajeda earned profits of Tk 800,000 and Tk 280.000 respectively during 1993-94 Champa. Monowara and Morsheda earned profits of Tk 120.000. Tk 108.000 and Tk 140.000 respectively during the year. Rubi earned Tk 70.000 Other members of the society are also showing noteworthy successes by mak Ing good use of their loans in rice husking and beef fattening although their profits are not a* high as in nprsery Zalda earned a profit of Tk 30.000 In rice husking while Mariam. Bhanu. Hazera and Halima earned Ik 7.000 9 000 in beef fattening in- 1993 94
The loan recovery rate of Mahlpur Jamtala MBSS is 100 per cent. All the 32 members of the society are now literate, use tubcwell water for drinking arid send their grown-up children to school. Thirty of them have Installed sanitary latrines In their homes and all the 24 fertile couples practice family planning. The society,
led by its successful manager and guided by BRDB's field staff, keep the activities and performance of the members under sharp scrutiny. Their weekly meetings are a clearing house of ideas and actions. There the 32 pragmatic women find their hands full with the hard realities of life. By now they know a breakthrough in the poverty syndrome of rural Bangladesh does not come easily.
Paratechs acting as catalysts
Md Rezaunnahi Akanda.
Thana Rural Development
Officer^ Sherpur. takes pride in the p’Wformancc of Mahlpur Jamtai* iMBSS as he and his team of RD-12 officials take in the .equally good performance of 139 other bittaheen Societies of the thana. Nearly 4.000 of the BSS and MBSS members have since 1989 drawn credit worth Tk 14.66 lakh for fruitful income generation activities establishing a repayment tally of 100 per cent. Their own capital in the form of shares, savings and group fund has risen to a total of about Tk 2.4 lakh.
He says, a large number of them have received know how training from the Technical Resource Team of RD-12 and many of them are now working as paratechnicians for their localities setting in motion a snowballing effect for the ill-educated poorer members of the rural society. A good performance by one member in Income generation very quickly inspires others and soon the whole community becomes interested in the knowhow This way the paratechs become catalysts and in the process earn a steady income in lieu of their services. With the spread of know-how the bittaheen members learn to make profitable use of the credit they receive through their societies
China Begum. 30. of Mirzapur Purbajiara MBSS re celved TRT training in the technique of beef fattening, which, among other tilings.
includes the selection of the right breed of calf ai the right age, freeing it of worms, vaccinating It at regular intervals, and then feeding it the right kind of fodder mixed with nutrients and urea and regulating Its movements. She took a loan of Tk 3,000 and bought a calf for Tk'2.800 in September last year. Nine months later, the
Jet-black big bull was very healthy and menacingly alert. The animal.' like its caring owner, looked proud as it was receiving offers around Tk 10.000 for sale. China will surely be happy to have the money but looking at the way the animal responded to her caressing, one wondered if she would be happy to lose it. Well, that hapjiens with most domestic animals. The attachment is not easy to sever.
China has no such immediate problem with her second animal — a milch cow — which she bought for Tk 2.500 this
year with her second loan ot Tk 3.000. The cow yields .1 good quantity of milk and that brings daily cash for the family as well as for weekly repay ment of the loan.
Montu Sarkar, 42. of Dublagari BSS is another sue cessful beef fattener and trained paratech. He has so far taken three loans amounting to a total of Tk 11,000 and has made substantial profit by fattening animals. He Is now a solvent person. His two daugh ters and one son are happy school-going children. Montu is grateful to RD-12 and especially to TRT for all they have done to show him the way to lift himself up from the dark pit of abject poverty to a life of meaningful work and happl ’ ness. He Is now a respected member of the village commu nlty.
A heartening feature -of RD-12 s operations in Sherpur thana is the steady rise in the level of social consciousness of the members. Most of them have learnt to read and write, have immunised their children and sent them to school tind most of the fertile couples have adopted family planning practices. A large number of the members have acquired some land for their homesteads and built modest shelters. They have also learnt the value of planting trees, for fu ture Income. Their expertise in nursery, poultry, dairy farming. pisciculture, vegetable gardening and animal fattening Is bringing them comfortable
income raising their social sta tus
Women seizing opportunities
The women members of the bittaheen societies have shown remarkable ability in seizing the opportunities pro vtded by the RD-12 project and becoming self-reliant on thetr own. The s'lgma tha' they are a burden «n the male members is no longer there This speaks eloquently of the quality of their leadership In guiding themt-elves and their societies to the path of self-reliance and higher social status They however never stop ac knowledglng the pioneering role played bv the RD 12 offi clals like Rezaunnabi Akanda. Umme Sufia. Nur Akhter and. of course, the Technical Resource Team of Bogra. espe dally Its leader K M Haftzul Huq. They say the collective efforts of these dedicated peo pie and many others have brought about the transforms tfon in their life.
Aleya Begum. 30, a member of Madarganj MBSS in Joypurhat sadar thana, is an exceptionally successful poul try breeder. The TRT people from 'Bogra helped her in ■ making an incubator opera tional with local technology s' a cost of only Tk 9.000 A. imported one would cost a least Tk 400.000. The ele 11 cally-ruh machine can ak.i. hatch 450 duck eggs at a Ui.w ’ By selling one-day and 28 do. chicks to the eager poui' A raisers of the locality she now earns about Tk 20.000 a m ith She has so far taker: '!■ - loans amounting tn 1 n, u: ■: Tk 11.500
Meya's fame has spread am! that brings curious and adniH mg visitors from Bogr Jc-ypurhat districts and 0111 sice. She makes modest clam of success. But her acknow 1 edgement of the suppeyt prn vided by 'he TBCCA and 'I ■ TRT was luucii ih ni
modest By now Hafiz a TP 1
team leader has becor-' used tn such acknowieilL-ments but. he says, that 1 .Ke us more conscious of i.h. resp-jn sibility and the need for vigi lance in regard to 1 t perfor ■nance of the biiu c'ts A poor performance is a dism centtve and if not rectified tn time will allow the members to slide hack into the ncious cir cle bi poverty llus will also cast a demoralizing shadow on the RD-12 project itself That s why success is so important for the men.tiers as well as lot
Archana Biswas 46 at Khanjanpur Missionpara in Joypurhat town is happy with her success in dairy, beef fat tening and poultry and has at traded many other MBSS and . BSS members to similar ven tures Her four cows give tier an average of 16 kg milk dally which sells for Tk 160 Her 750 poultry birds yield her eggs worth Tk 80 a day Bv selling chicks she also earns a good profit. She achieved all ibis with the help of two inlual loans worth Tk 6.000 from Sadar TBCCA. But now she needed more capital to expand her business RD 12 rules did not permii a loan in excess of Tk 5.000 at a time and a sec ond or third loan allowed only if a member cleared the earlier loan in full, unlike some other credit agencies. For RD 12 does not allow the btttaheens to become indebted beyond a tolerable limit That s why weekly Instalments of loan re parment is compulsory along with a weekly deposit ot sav Ings.
So Archana had to look eUa-where for a bigger loan Sonali Bank was highly im pressed with her record of performance as an MBSS membei and her vreditwor thlness They agreed to give her an initial loan of Tk IOO.OiXI Tk 75.000 tor cows and bulls and Tk 25.000 for poulliv A good record of re payment will make the loan Wvolve without restriction its open* a great opportunity for Archana Biswas and many other Archanas with similar vi slot 1 and drive for she ha* proved that credit need not tie a constraint for those bltta beer Is who graduate and qua! tty tor It
Socially Archana has gained a respectabfe status Her hus band Is always around helping her All her four daughters and two sons are educated and now married
Source:— Mens and Actions a newsletter fer. K 12 '