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BATIGHAR: Success Stories from Baira
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BACKGROUND:
Abdul Hye Mollah is just another of your average farmer who struggles hard to survive in rural Bangladesh. Hailing from the village of Char Jamalpur in Manikganj, he is 45 years old. He lives with his wife; they have two sons and a daughter. His eldest son works with him on his land and the younger son has just given his HSC examination. His daughter married about three years ago. Abdul’s mother lives with him. Abdul has been a farmer all his life. He owns 5 bighas of land around his homestead, which he inherited from his father. He farms throughout the year other than the Monsoon season; the major season is the winter season. He farms mainly eggplant, okra, green pepper and rice.
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He had come to know about Batighar when it started its operations in October 2008. Then his curiosity increased when the then Agricultural Advisor C.S. Karim was present at the grand opening as the chief guest. He was therefore aware of Batighar form its inception.
HIS PROBLEM:
Abdul would gather regularly with his friends and other people from the area in a local tea stall. They would talk about what is happening in their area, and if there was something new going on then that would dominate the conversation. They would also discuss their concerns, issues and problems with each other. At such a gathering, Abdul was describing a problem that he was having in his okra field. His okra field had been infested by pests and he did not know what to do. Then a farmer at the tea stall encouraged Abdul to go to Batighar, and that he will get information about his problem and perhaps also a solution from them.
If he had a similar problem in the past, what would he have done? He would go to the Sub-Assistant Agricultural Officer. He would be able to consult with the Block Supervisor occasionally, but in most cases it would be a lengthy process and success was not ensured. Why did he decide to go to Batighar this time with his problem? He went to Batighar because he was hopeful for a solution quickly which would benefit him. If he had gone to the Block Supervisor, then it would have been a lengthy process and success was not at all guaranteed; so he decided to come to Batighar.
So when he went to Batighar, Toslim went to the field, took pictures of the pests and up loaded information about the problem into the computerized system over the internet. Batighar’s agricultural specialist reviewed the information and sent back a solution over the internet to Toslim. Abdul Hye Mollah came back to Batighar the next day and got his solution. The solution was that he had to spray a pesticide on his crop. He went to the market and procured the pesticide and sprayed it on his crop.
OUTCOME:
By the time he went to Batighar, fifteen days had gone by and one third of his crop had been destroyed. After he used the pesticide on the crop, the problem was more or less taken care of; and he was able to sell the rest of his crop. From this he earned about Tk 3000.
What did he learn from all this? He learned that whenever he needs information about farming, such as how to prepare the land, what type of seeds to use and how much fertilizer to use, for such information he can come to Batighar and he will get the correct information. He is beginning to trust Batighar to provide him with the right information. He is learning to trust Batighar because in his experience, when he went to Batighar with his problem, the solution that Batighar provided to him did in fact benefit him. He goes on to say that if he had come sooner, then perhaps he would have benefited even more. Now he encourages other farmers to go to Batighar whenever they have any problems with their crops.
WHAT NEXT FOR ABDUL?
In the future, he wants to plant a lemon garden. He therefore needs to know how to prepare the land, how far apart the trees have to be planted and what kind of fertilizer and how much of the fertilizer to use on each tree. He is hopeful that Batighar will be able to provide him the information. He is also hopeful that income from farming can also increase. With the ICT based services provided by Batighar, there is a good chance that people like Abdul Hye Mollah will be able to increase their incomes.
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