More than 7,500 extremely poor and distressed women have changed their fortune through plucking tealeaves in tea gardens of the sub-Himalayan district of Panchagarh in recent years.
The successful women are now leading better life with their children and family members after changing overall socio-economic condition in the officially recognized third tea zone of Panchagarh in the country.
The female tea-garden workers, including housewives, widows, divorcees and unemployed young girls said tea sector has been growing fast in the sub-Himalayan district ensuring their daily incomes and livelihoods.
Tea-garden workers Shyamoli, 30, Swapna, 35, Rehana, 18 and Sabiha, 19 said they are now taking meals thrice a day, using sanitary latrines, drinking safe water, taking health care and living peacefully though they lived in dire poverty in the pasts.
Labourers Romesa, 20, Bulbuli, 40, Marina, 32, Soheli, 22 and Halima, 30, of the same Tentulia upazila said they are getting Taka 250 to Taka 300 per day average wages through plucking tea-laves.
“We are living now better with ensured livelihoods though we had hard days in the pasts when we had no job opportunity to earn wages,” said Romena, 30, Maksuda, 33 and Nilima, 38, who have been working for several years in tea gardens.
Supervisor of Moynaguri Tea Company Limited Nazrul Islam said each of the female tea-leaves labourers get Taka 80 for plucking the first 26 kg green tealeaves per day and get more Taka 3 per kg for the subsequent each kg of the additional tealeaves they pluck.
“A woman generally plucks 80 to 100 kg tea-leaves everyday to earn a total of Taka 250 to 300 or even more per day,” he added.
