DHAKA, March 21, 2024 (BSS)- Payara Begum suffered huge financial hardship to maintain expenses of her family but now she has become self-reliant through duck rearing.
 
Payara Begum, who hailed from Kodaldhoa village of Agailjhara Upazila in Barisal district, got married with Rafiq Ahmed, son of the late Jalal Ahmed of the neighbouring village, in 2015.  

She was compelled to get married at a young age due to the financial insolvency of her father, but after marriage her financial condition did not improve.

Payara Begum was finding it hard to run her six-member family with her meagre income. But now she has overcome the vicious cycle of poverty and appeared to be a role model to many people in her region.

To alleviate the financial hardship of her family, Josna (Payara Begum) took a loan of Taka 20,000 from the Upazila Parishad's “Amar Bari Amar Khamar project” and after selling a cow, she set up a duck farm next to their house. At present, there are 1,500 ducks (Pati Has) at her farm.
 
In the beginning, Payara Begum started her farm with 1,700 ducklings, and to this end she received advice from the veterinary doctor of Upazila Livestock Office. She has already sold around 200 Spot-billed Ducks. Now, her mother-in-law Asma Begum and elder son Shamim takes the remaining 1,300 Spot-billed ducks to the field after feeding those once a day.

After they bring the ducks back home from the field, Payara Begum feeds them regularly with antidote food. Payara Begum is expecting that each duck will earn an average price of Taka 150-200, and she will be able to earn about Taka 3.50 lakh after selling those.

Payara Begum said that at first, she collected some 450 ducklings of three days of age at Taka 14,000. And after nearly 20 days, she purchased another 1,200 ducklings at Taka 42,000.

Later, Payara Begum sold each duckling of age three-and- a half-months on an average at Taka 200 and she now has a total of 1,450 ducklings in her farm. With the advice of the veterinary doctor of Upazila Livestock Office, she is rearing her ducklings with extra care and food.   

Agailjhara Upazila “Amar Bari Amar Khamar” Project Coordinator Ashek Rahman said that Payara Begum, who used to maintain savings regularly, was given Taka 20,000 as loan for becoming self-reliant.   

The Project Coordinator said that Payara Begum is expecting to become self-sufficient by rearing Spot-billed ducks this season, and hoped that Josna's (Payara Begum’s) dream can be fulfilled only if she can sell the 1,400 ducks in healthy condition.

Barisal Additional Divisional Commissioner and Upazila Animal Husbandry Officer visited Payara Begum's farm a few days ago and they expressed satisfaction after seeing her duck farm.

They also encouraged other women of the village to take such loans and become self-reliant by rearing ducks like Payara Begum.

About her success, Payara Begum said that, "Once I even thought of committing suicide due to the financial distress. But with the advice of a sister-in-law of a neighbouring house, I took out a loan from the “Amar Bari Amar Khamar” project and became self-reliant today by utilizing it properly. Now there is no financial hardship in my family.”