Muktar Hossein from Horirampur, Manikgonj

Shefali Begum a 60 years widow lives in Harihardia village under Lechraganj union of Harirampur Upazilla with her children. She has been rearing livestock particularly sheep and goats for a long time enabling her to understand the language of the sheep and goats.

Shefali Begum is very happy as she could earn cash rearing these livestock which enables her to spend according to the family need. Her family members also love her and take care of her. Due to her contribution for her family needs Shefali Begum has been able to snatch the attention of her family members towards her. Thus when she gets sick they consult doctor and bring medicine for her. She also could eat whatever she wants. Last year Shefalu Begum earned 50 thousand taka by selling livestock. Presently she has 14 sheep, 12 cows and 4 goats.

However, sheep are herbaria, they like to eat grass in the pastures and roam around the group. Sheep gives birth twice in 15 months. A sheep gives 2 to 5 children. So, Shefali Begum has to make her farm bigger due to the increased numbers of livestock she rears. Sheep can survive on eating only grass. If supply grains, the production of sheep is expected to get better. Thus, the char land of Harirampur is an appropriate grazing lands for sheep and goats as there are abundant of uncultivated plants, herbs and grass where livestock particularly sheep and goats can eat around the whole day in the field. Thus a handsome number of household in the char land areas have been concentrating on rearing sheep and goats to earn their living. For this reason, more than one hundred small sheep farm have been developed at Patgramchar, Nattakhola, Harihardia, Selimpur, Baliachak, Halughata and Baliachak village of Lacharganj union.

The favorite foods of the sheep and goats in char lands are uncultivated raw plants and creepy plant such as Nalkhagara, Kaisa, Kalmi, Badla, Kharma, Durba, Jaldurba, Henchi, Goyacha etc. That is why they do not have to work very hard to feed the sheep. Nonethelss. The households do not have any training on livestock, but they have been using long experiences to rear livestock. In an urgent illness, they contact with a local village doctor along with upazila animal resources office. Recently, BARCIK arranged training on goats and sheep rearing to help them developing small farms.

When asked are there any problems regarding rearing sheep? Monowara Begum (40) said, ‘We do not get the doctor if sheep and goats suffer from the disease. Herbal remedies are the only source of healing.’ Generally, most sheep and goats get sick during the winter season. During this time sheep and goats suffer from cold, badla, scabies, dermatology, worm, exterior parasites, thin stools, abdominal problem and other diseases.

In spite of these illness women are trying to remove their poverty through rearing goats and sheep in the char area and some of them have succeeded. In this context, Harirampur Upazila Animal Resources Officer Atiqur Rahman said, “There are plenty of opportunities and utilities for livestock management in the area. Assistance will be provided to develop small-scale farm as well as training for rearing even more efficiently.”

Translated by Bahauddin Bahar