For a long time, Rozina was a struggling farmer.
Rozina lives with her family in rural Bangladesh, where many families make a living by farming rice, vegetables, or other crops. Day after day, Rozina and her fellow small-farmers were working hard in their fields, but they were not producing enough food. How were they supposed to feed their families and overcome poverty without good harvests?
Then Rozina took a brave step that changed her harvests for the better: she joined a community farmers group organized by World Renew’s local partner, SATHI.
In this group, farmers were trained in new agriculture techniques to help them increase their crop yields. Rozina was surprised to learn that the chemical fertilizers and pesticides that many of the farmers were using could damage the land and make it even more difficult to produce healthy crops.
Rozina also learned about environmentally-friendly agriculture practices, such as composting, seeds preservation and the use of organic pesticides. By using organic fertilizer instead of chemical fertilizers, she could help increase the fertility of the soil. She also realized what a difference it would make for her family if she could grow her own nutritious fruits and vegetables that they could incorporate into their diet.
Agricultural training equipped Rozina to see new ways forward for the farmers in her community. With great excitement, she started to put what she had learned into practice. She began growing tomatoes on her small plot of land—a project that cost her about 2,800 taka (approximately $35 USD). Her husband was glad to help her with this new endeavor.
Within a few days, Rozina’s tomatoes plants were full of fruit! She was thrilled to have tomatoes that she and her family could could eat. She could also had a new product that she could sell, and she made a profit of about 12,300 taka (approximately $154 USD) by selling her tomatoes.
At first, many the farmers in Rozina’s community were skeptical about the new agricultural methods she was using. Could these changes really help them improve their harvests? But Rozina was confident in her practices and passionate about sharing what she had learned with other farmers. So she invited farmers to come and visit her garden and see her success. When these farmers saw proof of Rozina’s success, they were also inspired to try these new, environmentally-friendly methods for themselves.
Today, Rozina continues to thrive and she is a strong leader. As one of trained peer farmers in her community, she finds great joy in training and mobilized new farmers in techniques that help give them enough food for their families.
“By applying what I learned through World Renew programs, I became a successful farmer,” said Rozina. “I believe and hope that all local farmers will use compost and organic pesticides in their kitchen garden one day.”
Visit World Renew’s Enough Food webpage to learn more about World Renew’s work of changing the story of not enough food to one of enough in communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
You can empower women like Rozina to have enough food in communities in Bangladesh. Donate now. #BeBoldForChange
