By Happy Roy, from Netrakona
In the quiet village of Isail, Shunui Union, Alpana Akter tends to her homestead with a dedication that transforms even the smallest patch of land into a lush, productive haven. With just five percent of her own homestead and a tiny borrowed plot, she manages to grow a remarkable diversity of vegetables while raising poultry and goats, all while running her household of two sons, a daughter, and a husband who works as an auto-rickshaw driver.
Alpana’s journey back to the village from a garment factory in Dhaka marked the beginning of her remarkable transformation. She cleared years of overgrowth around her home, turning fallow land into cultivable plots. Every year, she plants seasonal vegetables such as beans, squash, ivy gourd, pumpkin, ridge gourd, spinach, and malabar spinach and she carefully times sowing and harvests to maximize yield and ensure early market availability. Her neighbors often come directly to purchase her produce, drawn by the quality and freshness.
A part from crop cultivation, Alpana has mastered the art of poultry rearing. With a pond and canal adjacent to her homestead, she rears 32 ducks, 18 chickens, and 4 goats. Her meticulous care includes feeding the ducklings a natural mixture of rice, turmeric, and local greens to boost immunity and accelerate growth. Thanks to this attention, her poultry thrives, fetching premium prices in the market.
What sets Alpana apart is her ability to harmonize agriculture, livestock, and household management with creativity and discipline. She collects, stores, and exchanges seeds with neighbors, ensuring local biodiversity is preserved. Even fallow plots on borrowed land are revived under her hands, divided into sections, and planted with multiple crops in succession, maximizing productivity.
Alpana Akter embodies the power of women in rural Bangladesh. She demonstrates that with knowledge, resourcefulness, and perseverance, a woman can not only provide for her family but also contribute to the preservation of biodiversity and sustainable farming. Her homestead is a source of food and income and a testament to how women’s labor, intelligence, and care can nurture both life and land. Across Bangladesh, countless women like Alpana quietly transform the landscape, ensuring that agriculture, nature, and community thrive together.
