Photo : BSS

KHULNA, Sept 20, 2025 (BSS) - Surrounded by saline water fish enclosures, Rabeya Sultana's homestead in Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira stands out as a green haven.

Her yard is filled with a variety of vegetables, including bottle gourd, spinach, snake gourd, bitter gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, okra, beans, red amaranth, tomato, chili, eggplant, and papaya.

Medicinal plants, including thankuni (pennywort), also thrive there.

Rabeya is selling vegetables after meeting the demand of her family meaning such agro-farms could be a model for women living in coastal belts of the country.
    
This nutrition- and biodiversity-rich farm is locally recognized as a family-based nutrition bank under the “Shoto Bari Unnayan Model” (Hundred-House Development Model).

Under Rabeya’s leadership, a women’s organization has formed on this model in Padmapukur Union of the Upazila.

The group is holding monthly discussions and training sessions. Through these activities, local women exchange farming knowledge, share seeds, and run collective savings programs.

They receive training on nutrition, food security, environmental conservation, and organic farming—transforming the initiative into not just a center of nutrition practice, but also a platform for women’s empowerment and leadership.

Over time, Rabeya’s homestead has become a community learning hub, ensuring food security while also conserving biodiversity and strengthening women’s social roles.

The journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the research organization BARCIK advised her to establish a “nutrition bank” at home to secure safe and nutritious food. Nearly six years later, her homestead has grown into a vibrant resource center.

Rabeya collects and preserves local seeds each season, distributing them to others as well.

Talking to BSS Rabeya said, “Every year, I preserve 7–8 varieties of seasonal seeds. I exchange seeds with neighbors too, and I’m trying to build a local seed bank.”

“Before, I depended on the market for all vegetables. Different varieties of vegetables are being produced at my farm throughout the year. I am motivating other women for growing vegetables at their homesteads.” 
   
Many families are achieving financial benefit from vegetable production alongside fulfilling their demand.
     
Each year, Rabeya collects and conserves 7 to 8 varieties of native seeds, which she shares and exchanges with others in the community. 

She dreams of building a comprehensive seed bank rooted in traditional ecological knowledge.

Inspired by the Shotobari model, Rabeya has also mobilized a local women’s group.
 
Rabeya’s agro-farm has already drawn huge attention of rural people in Shyamnagar upazila, which ultimately is creating opportunity for consuming vitamin-enriched food. 
   
Her story is a testament to the power of personal dedication, community collaboration, and shared learning.

In a region grappling with salinity and climate shocks, Rabeya Sultana is proving that sustainable agriculture and food security are achievable, even in the harshest conditions.

Today, her Shotobari stands as an agricultural initiative and as the heart of a grassroots movement where women are leading the way in building a nutritious, environmentally sustainable, and self-reliant life and livelihoods.

Researcher Mofizur Rahman noted that in disaster-prone coastal areas, the ShotoBari Model represents a self-reliant method of climate adaptation.

“It strengthens community resilience against salinity and climate change while standing as a commendable model of women’s empowerment,” he said.

Rabeya’s “Shotobari” is no longer just an agricultural farm—it is a social movement now.
 
Talking to BSS, Md Rafiqul Islam, Additional Director of Khulna Agriculture Zone, said many women are engaging in such cultivation, like Rabeya in the coastal belt.

The Department of Agriculture Extension (DOE) is providing agro-inputs including training, seeds, plants, to the farmers, especially women.