Nationwide

3,200 underprivileged households involve in income generating activities

By Dr Aynal Haque

RAJSHAHI, Jan 21, 2021 (BSS) – Some 3,200 underprivileged families
consisting around 12,000 population are involved in various need-based
income-generating activities in order to improve their livelihood in the
region.

Many of the beneficiary households have already started overcoming their
long-lasting extreme poverty condition after the best uses of their received
resources.

Panna Begum, 40, is rearing nine sheep and seven hens and ducks valued at
Taka 24,700 amidst her painstaking efforts of improving their livelihood
condition at present. She is happy with her income-generating activities
saying her level of confidence has been enhanced to a greater extent.

Begum, wife of Dulal Hossain in Chalk Boloram village under Raninagar
Upazila in Naogaon district, received two sheep, one hen and other rearing
accessories worth Taka 9,000 from an anti-poverty project in 2019.

Reshma Begum, 26, wife of Abdur Rouf of Parmohanghosh village under Atrai
Upazila of the same district, has founded an asset valued at Taka 21,000 amid
their relentless efforts of reviving their livelihood at present from a worst
situation. The recent devastating flood had lost most of their belongings.

A total of 1,600 families in 43 villages under the two flood-affected
upazilas received productive resources worth Taka 9,000 each under the
‘Strengthening of resilience and adaptability to climate change in north
Bangladesh (REAP) Project’.

Last year, five consecutive floods drove people of the two upazilas into a
state of despair.

Project Manager Muhammad Alamgir said the beneficiaries invested the
capital in various income generating activities creating diversified,
climate-resilient and disaster-proof earning opportunities.

Anwara Begum, 50, of Paikara village in Atrai Upazila, said her low lying
fields and crops were badly damaged by floodwater last year. So this year,
she has raised the level of her cultivated land to mitigate the effect of the
floodwater. She also uses organic fertilizer to reduce production costs
besides protecting the environment.

DASCOH Foundation, Pollisree and NETZ Partnership for Development and
Justice, Bangladesh are jointly implementing the REAP Project in Rani Nagar
and Atrai Upazilas in Naogaon and Dimla and Domar Upazila in Nilphamari
districts since January, 2019.

In the four upazilas, 3,200 families were brought under diversified
income-generating activities to make sure their strengthening economic and
social resilience and adaptability to climate-related risks and natural
disasters.

All the project participants were imparted training on climate smart
agriculture and climate-resilient income generating activities so that they
can operate their income-generating activities properly.

Main thrust of the project is to contribute to overcoming extreme poverty
(SDG 1) and to reduce the vulnerability to the adverse consequences of
climate change (SDG 13).

As a whole, the project is intended to enable the beneficiaries through
effective preparedness measures and adaptation strategies so that they can
jointly address the consequences of climate change at local level.

“We provide a range of training and supply productive assets to the
beneficiaries since their joining to the project,” said Joyanti Rani,
Technical Officer of Pollisree, adding they are being taught on how to
cultivate vegetables in their homestead.

They are also being habituated in cultivating vegetables in a bucket or a
plastic bag.

In this method, families can keep their vegetable plants inside their
homes or take them to the safe, higher ground dam when they have to leave
their houses during the rainy season.

Muhammad Moniruzzaman, Programme Manager of NETZ, said the beneficiaries
are taking self-help initiatives to tackle the impact of climate change. The
training courses have enhanced their capabilities and opportunities to pursue
climate-resilient farming.

The women and their families have started numerous income-generating
activities. Everyone in these villages is involved, he added.

In particular, the farmers who have no land and are socially and
economically disadvantaged often face great challenges to adapt to the
effects of climate crisis have been brought under the project, said Akramul
Haque, Chief Executive Officer of DASCOH Foundation.

SOURCE NEWS