I have been married for twelve years now. After my marriage, my family went through a dire financial crisis for quite a while. My husband was a milkman but we were barely surviving. He used to work for other dairy farms. I asked myself, why don’t we start our own? It could be a great source of income and I could contribute to my family. I felt some sort of insistence to change our situation. In my marriage ceremony, I was given some 6/7 bhoris of gold. I sold them off and bought a cow with 1.5 lacs taka. That day, I decided to change my family’s fate.

With 3 lacs worth of investment, we started “Durjoy Dugdho Khamar” in 2017. I, along with my husband and my in-laws, have been taking care of the farm since then. My in-laws had prior experience in cow farming. At first, we had only one cow. We started selling milk to the stores, to the tea stalls and in the city. My husband continued delivering milk and we were counting profits. Occasionally, we sold cows in the sacrificial animal market. Gone were the days of our economic insolvency. In no time, the number of cows on my farm reached ten. As the number grew, we realized it was not necessarily a good thing. 

With an increased number of cows, the cost of farming became overwhelming. It was becoming tough raising and taking care of ten cows for the four of us. It became impossible after the pandemic hit. During COVID-19 lockdown, travelling to the city was restricted and we could not sell milk. On top of that, the price of cattle feed dramatically increased and we could hardly afford them. One kg of cattle feed, which usually costs 800-2000 Tk, was being sold for 10,000 Tk. We lost around 70-80 thousands Taka in the pandemic. 

Aside from cattle, we also grew vegetables in my father-in-law’s lands including cauliflower, bitter melon, etc. Amid the pandemic, a big chunk of cauliflowers remained unsold. Despite the fact that we were struggling, we kept hope. We sold our goats to buy cattle feed. During Eid ul Adha, we sold a few of our cows in the cattle market. Even though we had to sell them at half price, it was necessary to survive.

When your business incurs losses, it affects your mental health too. However, I knew I could not fall apart. I believe people can only do better when they refuse to give up and keep working hard. I am glad that we are landing on our feet again. With loosened restrictions, we can now sell milk regularly. This year, we had a good harvest of bitter melons too. 

I dream of turning my farm into a one-stop shop for milk products. Alongside milk, I want to produce ghee, butter, curd, cheese, etc. so that people can buy all sorts of milk-related products at once from us. For this, I will be initially needing around five lacs, which I intend to loan from the bank. I will use my knowledge from the LightCastle Partners’ training program where I was taught how to avail of loans along with other business management skills from their Business Incubation Program “Unnoty”. From them, I also learned the importance of managing financial records. Making use of my improved understanding of business tools, I wish to expand my farm in future and continue to live a healthy, sound, and prosperous life.