Fish farmers of Sholotaka bring positive change
A union has come out of poverty. It used to be impoverished, but now it is a beacon of progress in the region. The name of the union is quite interesting: 'Sholotaka' (16 taka). It is awe-inspiring to see how this union has turned into a place of prosperity, growth and development, situated in Meherpur's Gangni upazila. During the past two decades, the region has revolutionized its fish farming. Zugirgofa, Sholotaka, Maheshpur, Baniapukuir have transformed in a one of the largest fish farming hubs of Bangladesh. Fish is their predominant cash crop. The Zugirgofa village has 650 farming families, and all of them are doing amazingly well by farming fish.
Sholotaka is a relatively low-lying area. Not many crops could have been cultivated here due to its low-lying feature. Poor people were the victims of money-lenders and land-grabbers. However everything positively changed with Hedayet Ali Bishwas, an entrepreneur. He took the initiative to start fish farming in the region back in 1978 using indigenous ideas.
“You can't believe how fish farming can change an entire region”, said Hedayet. I was amazed at his vigor even at this age. The area of fish farming in Sholotaka is about 1,500 acres and 75% of the ponds belong to Sholotaka alone. This is something which is quite unbelievable if you don't see it with your own eyes. Hundreds of ponds developed an entire community. A newcomer in fish farming, Hasan Ali, started fish farming only four years ago. He is already an affluent man. “I took the challenge and now I'm successful at this venture”, said Hasan. There were others in the union whom I met and asked myself, “Is there anyone here who is not doing well? Imdadul Haque, Abdus Samad- all the farmers I met were happy and smiling.
Osman Gani, who has been fish farming for the last eleven years, was eager to express what he has achieved. “I only have a couple of bighas of land and now it has grown to 21 bighas of fishes”, said Osman. “Cultivating paddy is costly so we're more interested in farming fish”, added Osman. Fish farming became so popular in the region that it also inspired a local college teacher, Shariful Islam to join the community. He has been farming fish for the last seven years. “I have four ponds on eleven bighas of land and I'm being able to make good money”, said Shariful. He's happy that he could supplement his teaching salary with some extra income.
The households look very modern in the Sholotaka union. Due to the financial development and growth in the region, farmers have better homes to stay in. They used to live in clay huts before but now they have well-constructed 'pakkah' houses. They can provide better nutrition to their families, send their children to school and many of the women in these households have also been empowered by getting involved with fish farming.
The major obstacle for farmers in this region is low rainfall. Climate change is becoming a severe threat for the farmers across the globe and Bangladesh is no exception. High price of fish feed and labourer crisis is a slowly emerging as a major problem, according to the farmers.
No obstacle seems to discourage these farmers. Facing high price of fish feed, some of them are making fish feed on their own. They have started small fish-feed farms. The fact that the farmers are trying to solve their problems proactively instead of waiting for a solution is a good sign for our farming sector. They have learned all the fish farming techniques and crisis management techniques all by themselves.
Farmers in the union want advanced technologies and want the government to support them. They want local hatcheries in the region for further assistance. Some of them also dream that this region would be regarded as a fish-farming tourism area. It will be a combination of resources, science and advanced technologies.
This is how a responsible group of farmers can become change agents of a community. Sholotaka is just an example and there are many developments happening across Bangladesh in the farming sector, thanks to our resilient farmers. This success is replicated by others and is spreading. I firmly believe the confidence and self-sufficiency of the spirited people of Sholotaka will inspire millions of other farmers of our country.
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