By Asia Akter, from Manikgonj

Momota Rani (35), from Rishipara village of Shingair Manikganj, is living with her son, husband, and in-laws, having a complete family. She has got a huge yard in front of her house and always tries to use the best of it. She grows a variety of vegetables, including amaranth, beans, pumpkins, brinjal, chilies, and gourd. In addition, she planted blue pea plants, devil’s trumpet, and basil leaves to meet the medical demand. Additionally, she adorned her garden with jasmine, china rose, and marigold flowers.

She used to plant varieties of flowers from a very young age. She said that the reason behind planting more flowering

 plants than vegetable plants because the vegetables grown in the house were not so more lucrative than those of the market. But after she knew about the members of organizations developed by BARCIK, she now pays more attention to cultivating vegetables rather than flowers. The members of these organizations talk about different contemporary issues, and she picked the theme of safe vegetables cultivation from that discussions. She came to know about the harmful pesticides that are always used on the vegetables in the market, and thinks that this is not at all safe for her son and other family members to consume. From different campaigns, Momota became interested in cultivating safe vegetables in her yard garden to meet the nutrient demand of her family.

She continues to cultivate vegetables throughout the year, one after another. All the seasonal vegetables are available in her garden. She accumulates all the green waste from the household, makes a pit, and covers it with soil. She continues this technique in different places in her yard. When this waste rots and mixes with the soil, she starts to plant vegetable seeds on it. These give her the best result. She gets good yields and she even manages to sell the surplus after meeting her family demands that earns her additional cash. She can use this income as she likes, and this became her strength in her family. Sometimes she gives these vegetables to her neighbor at free of cost, and sometimes they buy them. The lemon and guava tree are so healthy that she is able to distribute the fruit among the neighbors. And as a result, she has a very good relationship with her neighbors. She also rears goats, and already sold two of them for ten thousand. She has got hens to meet the need for protein from her own house. All through the year she gets eggs and meat from these hens. She need not to go the market except for oil, salt, and fish. The rest of the commodities are available in her house.

She is so pleased and proud of her healthy home that she advises all of her neighbors to design their homes similarly in order to prevent them from having dangerous and toxic food from the market. Everyone will be safe and healthy as a result.