Fifty-year-old Rafique Miah is a farmer who lives in Cumilla. The sole breadwinner of his family, Rafique Miah would struggle to make any profit from his harvest. Rather, loss incurred to maintain his 50 decimal farmland, meant that his children’s education was put on hold.
It was through one of his neighbors that he got to know about SAJIDA’s Agri loan facility. After applying for a loan, a branch manager from SAJIDA’s local office visited his farm. After inspection, Rafique Miah was granted a Small and Marginal Sized Farmers Agricultural Productivity Improvement and Diversification Financing Project (SMAP) loan of BDT 50,000. Coupled with technical training to produce environment friendly Vermicompost, the injection of capital into his farm catalyzed his business.
Rafique Miah has not looked back since. He bought a further 50 decimal of farmland and utilizing technical knowledge he gained from regular meetings with SAJIDA’s technical team, he began cultivating a variety of vegetables. Due to his usage of organic fertilizer- Vermicompost, his produce was considered chemical free and attracted more customers, compared to his peers. Within two months he started earning BDT 2,40,000 per month.
Rafique has been able to provide financial stability to his family. His children do not have to think about their education fees anymore, Rafique now dreams of future of possibilities. Not only did he secure his own future, he is also passing his learnings to his neighboring farmers as well. Rafique is locally known as “Safe Vegetable Rafique”.
“Now, all year long I get to produce chemical free vegetable; selling them and feeding my family as well. My children no longer have to worry about their future.”