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AyRojgar
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Mixed experienceA woman running a dairy farm in Begumganj, Noakhali, in a Prothom Alo report

Gold earrings bought one cow; a lakh a month now, but the flood took 28-30 lakh

A pair of gold earrings sold for 50,000 taka bought one Friesian cow nearly two decades ago. The herd is now 60 head giving 200 litres a day and about a lakh taka a month after costs, yet a flood killed 15 animals and brought 1,000 taka of assistance.

Nearly two decades ago this woman from Eklashpur village in Begumganj, Noakhali, gave her husband a pair of gold earrings; the 50,000 taka they fetched bought one Friesian cow, kept beside the kitchen for want of a shed. She saved the milk money instead of spending it, and once the herd reached ten she built a shed on about 50 decimals. The dairy now holds 60 cows and calves, sells around 200 litres a day wholesale to restaurants and sweet shops, and clears about a lakh taka a month after all costs including four workers’ wages. During COVID those buyers shut, hundreds of maunds of milk out of 300 litres a day were given away free, and cattle went at nominal prices. The recent flood put waist-deep water in the shed and killed 15 animals worth 28-30 lakh taka, against which the upazila livestock office gave 1,000 taka while the NGO instalments still fell due. A haystack worth about 3 lakh taka had burned a month before that.

Lessons

  1. 1.Selling milk only to restaurants and sweet shops is a single point of failure: when they close the milk has nowhere to go and the herd still eats
  2. 2.Do not budget for disaster relief: 28-30 lakh taka of losses drew 1,000 taka of help, and the loan instalments did not pause

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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