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Care project fulfils their dream

Landless, marginal farmers in Rajshahi form co-operatives, learn improved farming, marketing

ANWAR ALI, Rajshahi
Five years ago, Monwara Begum could hardly market any crop her sons produced on their land.
Now they produce plenty of vegetables and food crops on their four-bigha land and sell the surplus quantities at fair prices to wholesale traders coming from Dhaka and other districts.
Buying a television was a dream for landless farmer Morshed Ali. Villagers now come to his house to enjoy TV programmes.
Landless sharecropper Abdul Gafur never thought of leading a society. He is now general secretary of Samota Socio-Economic Development Organisation, a farmers' cooperative formed at the village in 2001.
Like them, all in Alai Bidirpur village in Nawhata union under Paba upazila in Rajshahi have a changed life.
They are well off and organised, thanks to the Care's LIFE-NOPEST project which has modernised their method of cultivation and
helped them market their products at fair prices.
After conquering poverty, they now think about social problems like drug addiction, child marriage and petty crimes.
The LIFE-NOPEST (Locally Intensified Farming Enterprises and New Options for Pest Management project) project, supported by the European Commission, has also brought about a demonstration effect in neighbouring villages.
With cooperation from some local NGOs, the villagers now use new farming techniques including integrated pest management and dike cropping and are also growing fish in paddy fields.
"We learnt scientific cultivation methods and are earning profit through collective marketing system ", said Abdul Gaffar.
Mamta Rani said, "Once we had no money to buy seeds or pesticides at time of need.
"The problem is gone. We formed farmers' cooperatives and collectively raised a fund and take interest-free loan when needed".
Members of the cooperative society leased two bighas of fallow land in the village for two years at Tk 6000 per year and cultivated papaya. They have started earning profit from this.
Nomita became helpless when her husband Cripesh Chandra passed away eight years ago, leaving three children. She took a loan of Tk 2000 from the Samota Socio-Economic Development Organisation in June, 2001 and set up a grocery at the village. She now earns Tk 300 to Tk 400 per day from the shop.
Although only 30 families out of total 65 in the village are members of the society, it changed the like of all in the village. Their success story also spread to neighboring villages.
"Following the example of Alai Bidirpur, we can now eat three meals a day, our children go to school and our society is now free from drug addiction and crime", said Meraj Ali Sarkar of Darshanhat village in Dhuroil union in Mohonpur upazila.
Darshanhat villagers formed
Shapla Multipurpose Cooperative Samity in 2002.
The Samity led by Ayub Ali and Habibur Rahman helps poor villagers buy rickshaw vans to earn livelihood, get jobs and medical treatment, and sometimes bear marriage ceremony costs.
The villagers think the entire village as one family. "We are very happy", said 45 year-old farmer Meraj Ali.
"We did a lot to change our life. Now the government should help us in building roads, supplying electricity and extending education facilities.
Beginning on April 1, 2001,
LIFE NOPEST project ended on June 30 last year, covering seven districts -- Mymensingh, Sherpur, Jamalpur, Kishoreganj, Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Natore, sources said.
But villagers under the project in Rajshahi now fear that their hard earned success may be lost as there will be no more guidance and held from Care.