The scope that ensures ‘change’

Vegetable are grown around Boribari Beel in Gazipur. PHOTO: Hridoye Mati O Manush

Agriculture has been cornered in Gazipur, the industry prone area for a while. New industrial initiatives on arable lands coupled with industrial wastes are troubling both agriculture and the farmers. The farmers, however, have started to turn this as an opportunity as the demand for agro products went higher due to an increasing number of labours residing here, making scope for the farmers to utilize the local arable lands.
I visited Chapair Union under Kaliakoir upazila few months back. It is now a changed region with the beauty of Boroibari Beel and greenery of crops. The local farmers have changed their own fates with a few years of hard work and turned the once unused lands into productive and profitable units. The farmers are utilizing the Boroibari Beel as well, growing crops right on its heart.
I took a further step from the Boroibari market and witnessed the changes all around. I saw a cheering group of children on the way, heading to the school. The socio-economic developments and human concern travel side by side and the children appeared as if they're well aware of the necessity of education and the social issues that this region had previously gone through. It's truly a wonderful feeling. I got off the vehicle and continued the journey by motorcycle.
I spoke to a number of local farmers. Great farming initiatives on unused lands have changed the lives of people living around Boribari Beel. For instance, there's Nurul Haq who started farming on 50 decimal lands that he inherited from his father. It helped him send his son abroad for higher education, build house and get his daughter married. These are called changes!
Necessity leads to new initiatives and eventually success. Abdul Malek, a vegetable farmer, isn't what they call filthy rich, but he's well off. His family consists of his wife and two children. Feroza Begum, his wife, helps him in farming. Each morning, he collects 60 to 100 bottle gourds from his field and carries to the market. Imran, Malek's son, helps his father in these daily activities and is already interested in profitable farming. All the available lands in this region are being used for farming and most crops are profitable. Salim, another farmer is growing papaya in a tiny land adjacent to Malek's.
Although most of the arable lands are right beside the canal, the Union Parisad has constructed concrete drainage system around the lands. In addition, the local marginal and middle size farmers enjoy facilities like well-designed irrigation system, easy access to seeds and fertilizer etc. Therefore, it's hard to find a single idle land. This area is blessed with farming success. We usually see heroes on the silver screens and hardly any in real lives. But the truth is, there's actually more than just one in this region in the forms of farmers and Abdul Ali from Ashadiabari is certainly one of them. He never had a land to his name and spent a good part of his life pulling rickshaw. He eventually leased a land here, started farming on it and changed his fate for good.
Scope and disadvantage walk side by side. I discovered a little negativity as well. Some farmers who own lands are giving up farming due to a growing labour and ingredient cost. But the marginal farmers or the ones who lease lands and put all their efforts along with their families are benefitting.