Quinoa on 60 decimal of char land: Tk 15,000 cost, 12 maund harvested, Tk 67,200 in sales
After repeated losses to floods and river erosion, a woman in Madhyarchar, Roumari, Kurigram took training and grew quinoa. At half the cost of maize she made over Tk 50,000 profit.
A woman in Madhyarchar, Mohanganj union, Roumari upazila, Kurigram, has lost her home eight times to floods and river erosion in the past 10 years. Each time repairs ate up savings or borrowed money and nothing was left; her husband's small income made it hard to run the household. In a severe flood two years earlier her household goods and poultry were swept away. The LoGIC project (a local government climate programme with UNDP and UNCDF technical support) trained her in quinoa farming in 2023. She rented 60 decimal of char land and planted quinoa. According to the Prothom Alo report she harvested about 12 maund, sold it at Tk 140 a kg and received Tk 67,200. The cost was only Tk 15,000. By her calculation maize on the same land would have cost Tk 30,000 and earned a profit of Tk 15,000 to 20,000, while quinoa earned over Tk 50,000. Good maize seed is hard to recognise, theft is a worry and harvesting needs hired labour. At first many in the village said nobody would buy quinoa; now many come to her for advice. With the sale money she bought a cow and pays for her son, who studies at a madrasa.
Lessons
- 1.On flood and erosion-prone chars, a low-cost crop lowers risk; here quinoa cost half of maize.
- 2.Hands-on field training helped before taking up a new crop, though she had to put up with early scepticism in the village.
- 3.Before switching crops, set your own cost and profit side by side, as she did against maize.
We published this with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.
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