Fifty-two years old Aminul Islam plunged into financial crisis when the Dhaka Jute Mills was handed over to the private sector few years ago.
He had to maintain a family of five members and still does it.
But he improved his financial position gradually by farming cows. He started his new voyage with just one Australian cow. Now he is the owner of 12 cows and 12 calves, and built a dairy farm in Keraniganj upazila.
“I reared one cow of home species and sell its milk. As I lost my mills job, the cow milk selling earnings become my major source of income beside working as a day labourer. In that situation, with my little savings and sale proceeds of the home species cow, I bought an Australian cow,” Aminul said to The New Nation at his dairy farm in Ikuria, South Keraniganj, in Dhaka district.
“After buying the cow, fortunes began to smile. The cow gives 20 liters of milk everyday, enough to bear my family’s daily needs,” Aminul said.
He said that his family had become solvent. He can save a good amount of money in the bank.
Gradually he bought more Australian cows from same species.
He took loan from the Bangladesh Krishi Bank on easy terms which helped him boost the dairy farm.
Another farmer, 49 years old Abdul Jabbar, from Hasnabad, South Keraniganj also has become a dairy farm owner. His farm has six cows and five calves.
“I was an agriculture farmer. I used to cultivate ordinary crops like paddy, wheat and jute. My family members did not know what to do in extreme poverty,” said Abdul Jabbar.
“In such circumstances, I bought an Australian cow with my savings,” he said.
“The cow delivered a calf within a year. The cow started to give us more than 20 liters of milk everyday. I began to sell the milk and earned a good amount of money. Thus, my family members began to smile,” he said.
There are many more small and medium size dairy farms owned by Amin Munshi at Hasnabad, Nurul Islam at Ikuria, Mahmudul Haque at Korergaon, Nasiruddin at Abdullahpur, Abdul Khalique at Mirerbag, Deen Islam at Balur Char, Abdul Haque at Muslim Nagar. Farmers from other villages in Keraniganj and South Keraniganj upazila changed themselves starting dairy farms.
Some dairy farms have its names like Haque Dairy Farm and Tasin Dairy Farm, some are running without any name.
But most of the farmers cannot take loans from banks on easy and comfortable terms. Most of them take loans from NGO’s with hard conditions which was not helpful to boost the farms.
Dairy farmer Deen Islam said, “If the government initiate easy terms loan, the dairy farms will be expanded rapidly here.”
Dairy farmers Abdul Haque and Abdul Jabbar said they are selling their milk in Hasnabad Housing areas.
The other dairy farmers are selling their products to other traders or sweetmeat industries.
The dairy farms are creating multiple ways of employments and boosting economy.
Those farms are supplying nutrition to the people of the capital city providing pure milk. Their milk is enriched with vitamin-D as they used to take cows under sun ray in nearby fields everyday for grazing.
The city families are able to give their babies pure milk everyday buying from those farmers.
Many youths are now trading with cow milk in the capital and adjacent areas buying from those farms.
The sweetmeat business in the capital and adjacent areas is expanding as fresh milk is easily available.
There are some readymade sweetmeat hubs are also created in nearby Abdullhapur and Rajendrapur. The sweetmeat traders prepare and sell different kinds of sweetmeats, Ghee, Butter and Cheese as wholesalers to shop owners in the capital and adjacent areas.
