In Prosperity, we not only provide financial and non-financial inputs and train the extreme poor households to help them develop their livelihood options but also encourage them to do better through organising lessons-sharing events. Showcasing a member’s success and best practices by arranging Farmers’ Day is one such motivational activity.
At its fourth year, the project is now ramping up Farmer’ Days to exhibit the process of a specific livelihood technology successfully implemented by a Prosperity member or a group of members, and has the potential for further replication by participants as well as non-participant community members.
On Farmers’ Days, promising Prosperity members showcase their livestock, fisheries or agriculture-based farming technology and share their experience with Prosperity Village Committee (PVC) members and the community people to inspire them to replicate the technology.
They also explain the steps needed to implement the technology, as well as its management, income and expenditure, profit margin, and the challenges in replicating the technology. Participants then visit the member’s farm to gather hands-on knowledge about the IGA.
Officials from agricultural extension offices (livestock/fisheries/agriculture) often join the sessions, sharing technical knowledge of the particular IGAs with Prosperity members. This also creates a linkage between various government service providers and project participants.
Kamala Rani Karmakar (40), a Prosperity member from Birampur of Dinajpur, recently attended a Farmers’ Day in her area from where she learned about potato cultivation and pest prevention.
“We used to cultivate potatoes traditionally and often suffered loss due to pest attack. Now we know when and how we should cultivate potatoes and prevent attacks from insects. We also came to know about some recent technologies for potato cultivation,” she said.