By Shimul Biswas from Manikgonj
If proper support, facilitation and guidance is given to farmer Swapan Roy of Manikgonj his house could turn to an agroecological learning center. Swapan Roy (48) a farmer of Kasta village of Manikgonj district has been practicing sustainable agriculture for a long time. Actually, agriculture is the only source of his income. He has a 30 decimal homestead land including cultivable agricultural land. He has maintained his family’s prosperity by growing diverse crops for twelve months. A cow farm is being managed by the joint efforts of him and his wife at home. He is cultivating diverse crops including cauliflower, cabbage, radish, red cabbage, cucumber, sweet pumpkin, brinjal, horseradish, spinach, corn in a piece of low land adjacent to his house. He is also cultivating gourds, beans, rice by making a loft on the house.
Swapan Roy has a 20 decimal of ponds adjacent to his house where he cultivates a variety of native fish. The house is rich in diverse fruits, forests and medicinal plants as well. In other words, he has built his whole house like an ideal farm house. His skills and experiences in practicing environment friendly agriculture increased when he joined the Casta Barowari farmers’ organization facilitated by BARCIK, as a regular member in 2018. After joining the organization, he further gained knowledge and skills about environment-friendly, sustainable, natural resource-based agricultural management by participating in the training and exposure visit arranged by BARCIK where farmers exchange materials including successful experience about their agriculture life.
Since joining the farmer’s organization Swapan Roy’s thinking and practices in agriculture started to change. In the past he used to buy all the agricultural materials from the market, but now he is trying to bring most of the agricultural materials under his control. Meanwhile, he has incorporated indigenous methods in his farming system including conserving seeds of local varieties at home, processing cow dung and using it as fertilizer, organic pesticides for pest control, IPM (sex pheromone trap), planting Mary gold flower on land isles. Currently, he is cultivating various species of local fish in his ponds.
Swapan Roy also has shallow machine installed in the house for irrigating his crop lands though today after coming in touch of BARCIK he is concentrating on using surface water rather than extracting underground water. Thus, he is thinking of using pond water during the dry season to reduce the use of underground water. Moreover, he has also decided to irrigate his rice field with pond water. He is also now rearing livestock using his indigenous knowledge. Being attached with BARCIK Swapon Roy has made innovative changes in his agriculture practices that benefits himself and keeps the nature and environment safe and alive. His house is like an agroecological learning center where everything is managed in an environment friendly way enabling him and his family members to collect almost all type of fresh and poison free foods. One also can learn visiting his agriculture farm on how one can maximize their land by producing diverse crops in an environment friendly way.
Translated by Silvanus Lamin
