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The Triumph of Ripon Chondrosen
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32 year old Ripon Chondrosen’s story is a remarkable one because of his economic success. Sustaining his family from the severity and hardships of life had become a challenge for this farmer who took it up with all smiles. He labors on his 2 acres of land growing bitter gourd, brinjal, bottle gourd, sweet gourd, cucumber, red amaranth and baby corn. In addition to income from growing these vegetables, Ripon earns supplementary income by raising 6 ducks, 2 cows and one chicken. His family includes his wife, three brothers and a son.
Ripon walks on his farm in Bamna upazila of Barisal District to observe his crops. A few months ago, his bitter gourd leaves were turning yellow. His hyacinth beans (Sheem) were attacked by pest and as a result, the produce was rotting. In addition, his brinjal leaves were also infected by pests. Under such circumstances, he was unable to harvest enough crops thus leaving the family destitute. ‘Life was infinitely more difficult for me than it is today’ recalls Ripon. He did not even want to go to block supervisors because their medicines hardly work.
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It was during a visit to his friend’s village that Ripon saw one of his fellow farmers in a computer center seeking some help. As an inquisitive individual, he asked the farmer why he went there and the farmer explained. The farmer went to the GP Community Information Center (CIC) to get agricultural advice and was immensely benefited. Ripon was impressed and instantly decided to visit the center for his own problems although he was still apprehensive whether he would get reliable solutions. He described his problem to the entrepreneur after which the Brand Promoter (BP) of the center took a picture of his affected crop and emailed it to an agriculture specialist (since the solution was not found in the web site ruralinfobd.com). The solution from the specialist was then forwarded to Ripon who applied the medicine in his field. Today the traders are making bee-line to his farm to purchase his pride produces.
This year Ripon is expecting a harvest that will net him in a record TK. 10,000, of which Tk.9, 000 will be his profit. This excellent return is way beyond his family’s highest hopes and allows them to radically revise their plans for the future. None of this would have been possible if Ripon had not visited the information center. He shares his experience with farmers working in and around his field and encourages them to visit the center whenever they face problems with farming.
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