News Flash
DINAJPUR, August 26, 2025 (BSS) - Bishapara village in Hakimpur upazila of Dinajpur has earned widespread recognition as the "Dugdha Village" (Milk Village).
Located in the Boaldar union of the upazila, Bishapara is now home to 65 small and large dairy farms rearing local and foreign breeds of cows.
Each farm houses between 16 and 25 milk-producing cows, with individual market values ranging from Tk 80,000 to Tk 200,000. Through rearing cows and regularly selling milk, farm owners have achieved self-reliance.
Situated approximately 4 kilometers south of the Hakimpur upazila headquarters, the village has become well known for its milk production activities.
According to livestock Officer Md. Habibur Rahman, who is engaged in dairy research under the private development organization MBSK and attached to the Hakimpur Upazila Livestock Office, said Bishapara currently hosts 68 dairy farms.
The total number of cows in the village stands at 265, which includes 85 heifers, 65 crossbreeds, and 115 native cows. On average, 85 cows produce around 570 kilograms of milk daily, he said.
Source said that, with the support of the NGO, the village's poor men and women have been empowered economically through training and resources for dairy farming. As a result, many families in the village are now financially self-sufficient by selling milk.
On January 1, 2017, the Hakimpur Upazila Livestock Office officially declared Bishapara as a "Dugdha Village".
A field visit to the village yesterday revealed the real picture of dairy farming in the area. Md. Masudur Rahman (50), a retired member of Bangladesh Army and a farmer in Bishapara, shared that he bought a Friesian cow six years ago, and now his homestead hosts a farm with eight cows.
Among them, half produce milk while the others are pregnant and that is why they are being carefully looked after to ensure they deliver healthy calves, he said.
So far, he has sold three cows and seven bull calves for a total of Tk 2.6 million. Currently, his farm has eight cows and four calves, with an estimated value Tk 2.5 million.
He said, "In the past, we faced challenges selling milk. Now, wholesalers from Bogura come daily to collect it directly from our homes. We are able to sell milk at Tk 50-60 per kilogram."
He added, "NGO officials helped connect us with curd producers in Bogura, ensuring fair prices. I currently produce 50 to 60 kilograms of milk per day from my farm."
Masudur said that every household in the village is involved in dairy farming. The milk produced from the small and large farms in the village ranges from 700 to 800 kilograms daily, and it is collected and transported to Bogura by Ujjal Ghosh and Fatik Chandra.
Another farmer, Amena Begum (43), wife of Md. Saheb Ali, said that seven years ago, they took a low-interest loan of Tk 100,000 from an NGO and sold six trees to raise a total of Tk 190,000.
With that, they purchased two foreign heifers. Today, their farm has seven cows. Four of them produce 50 to 60 kilograms of milk daily, while the remaining three are pregnant.
She said that she and her husband are providing special care to the pregnant cows in hopes of receiving strong and healthy calves.
Over the past few years, they have sold nine cows for Tk 2.3 million. With that money, they married off their two daughters and bought one bigha of land, where they now cultivate grass to feed the cattle. This has made them more self-sufficient in dairy farming.
Hakimpur Upazila Livestock Officer Dr. Abdus Samad said that courtyard meetings are regularly held to train farmers in modern dairy farming techniques. During disease outbreaks, medical teams are deployed for treatment and support, he said.
As a result, Bishapara, known as the Dugdha Village, has now gained recognition as a model village for dairy production, he ended.
