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Sweet Success with Bitter Gourd: The Case of Md. Haider Ali from Sharsha, Jessore
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Md. Haider Ali lives in a little village in the Sharsha Union in the district of Jessore. Like those before him, he too is a farmer; it is what he has done for the past 35 years of his 50 years. He lives on his family homestead with his wife and 4 children. He owns about 9 bighas of land and in this cropping season, he used 8 bighas for farming rice and the remaining 1 bigha for vegetables. In total, of his yearly total income, Md. Haider Ali estimates that he manages to save about Tk. 10,000 to 15,000.
But the life of a farmer is not easy, he says. “For us farmers, life is about worrying all the time…we worry about the weather—will it not rain, will it rain too much, how can I protect my crops from disease and pests, how can I get a better harvest?” says Md. Haider Ali. He goes on to say that all his worries are worth a good harvest; just like the bitter gourd harvest that he has been having for the past few weeks now.
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Though he is having a good bitter gourd harvest, at one time it looked like his crop would have been a complete failure. A disease struck his bitter gourd crop, which caused the leaves to turn red and fall off. The plant would then die. Md. Haider Ali looked on as his crop was being decimated before his eyes; he felt completely helpless—there was nothing that he could do about it.
It was at this time that he remembered the courtyard meeting that he had attended a number of weeks ago. It was about something called “Krishok”, he could not recall what it was, but he remembered being told that if he had any agricultural problems, then he should go to the local Community Information Center (CIC). How would a “Mobil phon-er dhokan” can help him, he wondered? He was very skeptical. But as he was desperate to save his crop, and since he had nothing to lose by trying, he decided to go to the CIC and ask what help they could give him.
At the CIC, he informed the entrepreneur Mofizur Rahman about the disease afflicting his bitter gourd crop. Mofizur bhai sent his Brand Promoter to see the crops and to take some pictures of the diseased crops. Afterwards, Mofizur bhai was able to provide the solution based on the evidence collected from the website: www.ruralinfobd.com. Md. Haider Ali was to use a medicine on his crop and the disease would subside.
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