Hundreds of people, mostly women, living in the remote char areas in ten northwestern
riverine districts are expecting huge profits by selling their locally reared sacrificial
animals before the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
They are now taking special care of their reared bullocks, calves, cows, oxen, buffaloes,
goats and fattening those to have better prices like in the previous years as the buyers
highly prefer those than the imported ones.
According to Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur
Rashid, the animal husbandry sector has been expanding fast in the vast tracts on the
sandy-barren char areas in recent years bringing fortunes to char people.
The tremendous success has been achieved by the extremely poor char people following
effective implementation of the comprehensive Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) by
a number of NGOs since 2004, he said.
Over 100,000 poor families living in char areas of Kurigram, Bogra, Gaibandha,
Sirajganj, Jamalpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Rangpur, Pabna and Tangail districts have
achieved the success to overcome abject poverty, locally known as ‘monga’.
Most of them have achieved self-reliance through animal husbandry and other income
generation activities with CLP assistances though they struggled for survival even a
decade ago.
Project Manager of CLP of RDRS Bangladesh Farzan Ahmed said the have-nots group
char people have successfully explored the prospective animal husbandry sector in recent
years with CLP assistances.
Under the comprehensive CLP activities, char families are being assisted to escape floods
through raising plinths and achieving self-reliance through income generations including
animal husbandry amid adverse situations, he said. –BSS, Rangpur
