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e-Krishok Campaign: Creating Belief in the minds of Farmers
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Shamar Majumdar is about 42 years old. Hailing from Bagherpara in the district of Jessore, Shamar has been farming for nearly 25 years now. He lives on his homestead with his extended family of 10 people of which he is now the head. In total, he owns just about 10 bighas of agricultural land; on which his family farms rice, jute, mustard, aubergine, bottle gourd, spinach and sesame. In addition to agriculture, his household owns 8 cows, 23 ducks, 5 swans and 10 chickens which provide milk, and meat which they sell at the market.
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Having a big household means that there are always mouths to feed and cloth, so Shamar supplements his income by working at an oil store in the local haat in his spare time. All in all, Shamar manages to get by, he is not very well off, but then he is not in need; though any increase in his income is welcome because this will help him to save and plan for the future.
This winter, Shamar planted aubergines on about 15 katha of land. Everything seemingly was alright, and then he noticed that the aubergines were not growing properly. He was very worried. He had invested nearly Tk. 10,000 on his aubergine crop this year and he could not afford to lose this harvest; last year he had earned Tk. 25,000 from selling his aubergine harvest. He did not know where he could turn to for help and information to his problem. It was a stressful time for him. It was at this time that he heard from Gopal the Brand Promoter of e-Krishok at the local Community Information Center (CIC) that farmers like Shamar could get solutions to their agri-related problems from the CIC.
As the oil store where Shamar worked was only a few steps from the CIC, Shamar thought that he should go and consult with Gopal about his problem. On his spare time, he went and explained the problem to Gopal. Gopal asked Shamar to come and see him the next day and maybe them he will have a solution for Shamar. After Shamar left, Gopal wrote to the agricultural specialist of e-Krishok, describing the problem. The specialist reviewed the problem and prescribed a solution with a 24 hour time span.
And so when Shamar returned the next day, Gopal was able to provide a solution to his problem. Shamar needed to use a medicine on his aubergines and this medicine would help the aubergines to grow properly. Shamar was surprised that he got such a quick response. However he reserved full judgment until he had used the solution on his crop; after all it seemed too good to be true.
All of his doubts were laid to rest once he used the solution. Within a few days, the aubergines were growing properly and were no longer stunted. He was very satisfied with the outcome of his problem. And the response time of e-Krishok was unbelievable! Before he was forced to go to pesticide and fertilizer dealers because the Sub-Assistant Agricultural Officer lived too far away; the solutions provided by the dealers were not reliable.
When asked if in the future he would go to the CIC with his problems, Shamar replied that he would. Why would he do so? Because he had already gotten a good response the first time and so he feels that he can get reliable information and advice from the CIC through the e-Krishok campaign.
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