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AyRojgar
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What went wrongAn award-winning fish and livestock farmer in Ishwardi, Pabna, in a Prothom Alo report

An award-winning farm goes to auction, with 11 court cases behind it

This farmer, decorated with national awards in 2010 and 2011, ran over 50 bighas of fish ponds, 200 cattle and 5,000 chickens. Caught in bank loans from 2012, he now has 11 cases against him and his house and farm are up for auction.

This farmer from Muladuli village in Ishwardi, Pabna, won the National Fisheries Award in 2010 and the Bangabandhu National Agriculture Award in 2011. At his peak he held more than 50 bighas of fish ponds alongside 200 cattle and 5,000 chickens. Expanding further meant bank debt, and from 2012 he was tangled in loans. Anthrax killed 25 of his cattle, milk and fish both sold poorly, and he defaulted. The bank sued in 2021; 11 cases now run against him and his house and the whole farm have been put up for auction. The report covered four decorated Ishwardi farmers ruined the same way, none of whom had farm-management training or any insurance against the loans they were given.

Lessons

  1. 1.An award earned on a small pond does not prove you can run a loan-financed operation; the management gap is what sinks people
  2. 2.Stacking fish, cattle and poultry on borrowed money means one outbreak plus one bad price season ends your ability to service the debt

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

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