Chandana Mondol
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Authors
Barua, Gunjan
Issue Date
2017-11
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Agriculture , Climate Change
Alternative Title
Abstract
My name is Chandana Mondol, age 25. My husband’s name is Debashish Mondol. I have one girl child. Her name is Anushri Mondol. She is 5 years old. My husband is a fisherman. I am a housewife. We live in Kopalia, Rajbongshipara of Jessore district. We do not have any land or pond of our own. My husband goes to rivers and canals nearby to catch fish. He also works on a daily basis in other people’s fish farm. He earns BDT 200-300 (£1.8-2.7) on an average daily. We do not have any other income opportunity. My husband is the only earning person in the family. He cannot work during rainy season as it becomes quite difficult to catch fish that time. As his income is very little, we cannot properly save money for the rainy season. As a result, we have to borrow money at high interest every year. The money has to be repaid as soon as the rainy season ends. Our house gets waterlogged in each rainy season. So, we always have to spend extra money to repair our house. Practical Action has provided us the cage this year to do this farming. We have invested BDT 1,300 (£11.90) to buy 1,500 fish fingerlings. We have inserted monosex Tilapia in this cycle. As my husband remains busy in his job, I am working in the cages. He also assists me from time to time. Seeing the growth of the fishes, I am expecting to harvest 120 KG of fish from the cage. I am hoping to sell them at BDT 120 (£1.10) per KG. I am also cultivating bottle gourd over the cage. Hopefully, I will get 12 bottle gourds. My neighbours are appreciating my activity in the cage. They seem interested to practice this method next year. In spite of my husband being a fisherman, it was difficult for us to manage some fish for our household consumption. Now, not only I can sell the fish from the cage, but also can keep some for our own. My child loves to eat fish. She will be very pleased to have this Tilapia. I only used to do the household chores. Now I can support him with additional income. In fact, I am planning to make more cages next cycle. To save some cost, I will use bamboo to make the frames. My neighbours is regularly asking about this farming technique. I can also work as a trainer for them!