The Success Story of a Young Farmer

Vermicompost is the product of the decomposition of organic material by earthworms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and other earthworms, to create a mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, and bedding materials. ADRA Bangladesh patronizes and encourages farmers to produce Vermicompost and replaces chemical fertilizers to organic fertilizers. Vermicomposting and Vermiculture offer the potential to organic farmers as sources of supplemental income.

Anowar, a 25-year-old young man has attained a remarkable achievement and improved his financial ailment by producing Vermicompost. At the age of 12, he lost his father and fell in great crisis. He became helpless with his mother and a younger brother as his father was the only earning person in their family.

“After the death of my father, I had to take the responsibility of our family. I had no other way but working as a day laborer to earn money so I could feed my mother and younger brother. It was difficult for me to continue my studies as I felt tired by doing hard work whole day and could not concentrate on my studies,” Anowar was explaining his hardship.

The adversity of his family grew day after day and he could not think how to get rid of this situation. He was encountering challenges to take care of his family and continue his studies at the same time. Anowar passed through the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) with hard perseverance and assiduity.

“In 2016, I joined as a member to Modhumoti Male Development Group of Empowering Flood Prone Poor Community (EFPPC) project steering by ADRA Bangladesh. Within a few months, I received training on how to prepare Vermicompost. After accomplishing the training, I started to produce Vermicompost on a small scale and utilized it to my paddy and mustard field. It brought a significant outcome and I got a very satisfactory production which was beyond my expectation,” said Anowar.

In 2018, EFPPC organized a cross-visit program at BRAC nursery, Anowar also participated in that program. From the cross-visit, he flocked more experience on Vermicompost and was thinking about to produce it in commercial level.

After a few days, he made a plan and started producing Vermicompost on a large scale, with 10 ditches under a shade. Last month he got 80 kg of compost and used it in his own husbandry. He also implemented the SRI method in his paddy culture. Besides, he started cultivating vegetables using the bag method considering the upcoming flood.

Anowar has achieved financial emancipation by selling Vermicompost and producing crops. Now, he doesn’t need to sell his labor and work as a day laborer anymore. He is earning a good sum of money which is sufficient for his family.

“I want to be an iconic farmer and I want to demonstrate that it is possible to produce satisfactory crops using only organic fertilizers,” said Anowar confidently.