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Building a better future
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Early morning fog hangs over miles of tomato beds as we and Md. Shahidul Islam walk down one of the many roads that bisect the planting. In the twelve years that he has worked in this farm located in Rajapur Upazila of Barisal district, Shahid says he's seen an increase in the yield of tomato in his sections. He credits this to the Grameen Phone Community Information Center (CIC) without whose help he would not have achieved this huge success. He own about 8.5 bighas of land growing tomato, bottle gourd, sweet gourd, and muskmelon and also raises 30 chickens and one goat.
His eyes light up when he talks about his tomato plants which now look healthy and well tended. Few months back the 27 year old farmer had a hard time dealing with his tomato plants the leaves of which were withering resulting in unhealthy tomatoes.
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Moreover the disease seemed to proliferate thus jeopardizing his harvest. The sprays suggested by block supervisors were never helpful. He was almost in a hand to mouth situation with his old parents, three brothers and two sisters. He and his father began researching alternatives. When they plugged into a network of farmers, they learned about the CIC and at once decided to visit the center. The entrepreneur of the center looked up for the solution in the website ruralinfobd.com but could not find it. He then forwarded Shahid the medicine prescribed by an agriculture specialist. Income from the farm has been increasing ever since. He estimates that he now grosses about tk 60,000 with a net income of about 50,000. His goals are to now increase production without increasing crop acreage.
Md abdul Jalil expressed his gratitude to the CIC for giving him the right solution on time. ‘ami khub khushi CIC er shohojogita peye. Bhalo ekti nirdeshona pawar karone, amar ponner man ebong shonkha ullek joggo hare briddhi peyeche’ ‘I am very happy with the support and advice from CIC. Due to good field guideline services, the quality and quantity of my produce has increased immensely’ he says, gazing at the tomato plants in his field.
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