Low-interest small loans changed lives of many Jashore women

Rina Begum had to struggle a lot to make a way of living for her family of five—three children and her rickshaw puller husband, Asgar Ali, whom she married back in 1997 in Patibila village of Chougachha upazila of Jashore.

The family made a breakthrough after Rina started guava farming with the money taken as a microcredit loan from Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) in 2010. Initially, she started growing guava on the homestead and later expanded it to some 3-4 bigas of groves over a decade.

Apart from harvesting guava, rearing ducks and hens at home made Rina self-reliant. 

"After overcoming poverty, I am now the owner of wealth worth Tk20-25 lakh," a proud Rina told The Business Standard.

She said that she had already paid off the loan of Tk10,000 and is currently doing guava farming on 110 decimals of land which she had taken on lease. She also employed three labourers in cultivation.  

Rina said that with her income, she had bought 10 decimals of land valued at Tk10 and currently, she has a capital of Tk15 lakh.

Like her, at least 30 other women of the Patibila village changed their fortunes on the profits earned from harvesting guava and dragon fruits. All this started with the small-interest loans borrowed from the Ahsania Mission's DAM Foundation for Economic Development (DFED).

Another resident of the village, Nazma Begum, who started guava and dragon fruit cultivation with a Tk10,000 DFED loan in 2008, now owns assets worth Tk30-40 lakh. She has built a concrete house and purchased two and a half bighas of land with her income over the years.

Nazma Begum told TBS that she now sells dragon fruit worth Tk13-15 lakh per year and if the cultivation continues like this, the annual sales will reach up to Tk40-50 lakh in the next few years.

Another resident, Jasmine Begum of the same village, invested money in maize farming and has become a successful entrepreneur with her own income. She earns Tk4-5 lakh per year by harvesting maize.

For her success, she gave credit to the DFED loan, saying, "In 2008, I took a loan of Tk20,000 from this organisation (Ahsania Mission) and started maize farming. I have acquired wealth worth Tk20-25 lakh. Now, my family has become self-reliant".

Till date, the Dhaka Ahsania Mission has distributed Tk34,490,897,000 loans among 1,116,685 people through the DAM Foundation for Economic Development, as per data of the organisation.

In the 2021-22 fiscal year, the DFED distributed loans among 146,685 recipients and set the target of borrowers at 210,000 in the current 2022-23 fiscal year.             

Jamal Uddin, DFED's Chougachha upazila branch manager, who issued the loan for Rina Begum in 2010, told TBS, "Rina Begum is a quintessential and successful entrepreneur in this area. Following her, the families of many other women, like Nazma and Jasmine — are also self-dependent today".

Talking to TBS, Rina Begum said that she didn't get any kinds of government assistance in her endeavours, adding, "If I get even a little help from the government, then I firmly believe that my cultivation will increase by 7-8 folds in the next 8-10 years".