Black Bengal Goat is Famous for Its' Tasty Mutton

In Bangladesh, especially in the northern districts like Rajshahi, Pabna, Natore, Bogura, and other adjacent area, the marginal farmers can earn a little bit extra income by rearing this black Bengal goat. Black Bengal goat is very famous for its' tasty and soft mutton. During festival like Eid-ul Aazhaa, the black Bengal goats face huge demand in the market. Other than this, during marriage ceremony and to meet the normal daily demand of meat, people like this Black Bengal goat very much.

Normally the Black Bengal Goat meat can be sold as high as 150% more prices than that of the beef. It is very easy to rear Black Bengal Goat in the rural area of Bangladesh. The marginal farmers, specially the women like to rear two or more goats at their small cottages.  Their children help them in rearing this goats at their premises. A very small amount of feed is sufficient for rearing this type of goat. But, they have to be very careful so that the goats can not destroy their neighbors crop. In a nut shell the black Bengal goats are herbivorous and their feed stuff include grass and crops of all types at their early stages. A mature three-year goat can produce about 15-18 kg of fresh meat.

Rivers are important for Bangladesh as the Artery and Veins in a human body

Bangladesh is a riverine country. Rivers are important for Bangladesh as the Artery and Veins are important for a human body. Naturally, hundreds of rivers are flowing over the country. But we are not  effectively utilizing the beneficial sides of the rivers. The source of these rivers are basically the Himalayan mountains. The water vapors from the Bay of Bengal fly as clouds  and deposited as glaciers over the Himalayan mountains. During the monsoon rainfall starts and the rivers, beels, Haaors, and other low lands of the country are inundated with the rainwater. Sometimes flood occurs and marginally poor people suffers from the flood water. Occasionally, flush flood wipes out the rice crop from the farmers field. If everything goes well, people can harvest their golden rice crop from the field and they can feed their family well.

Now a days, rivers are occupied by the greedy river grabbers and land robbers of this country. For example, Buriganga river of Dhaka and other similar type of rivers have been occupied by the land grabbers and river robbers. They are occupying the rivers, establishing their right there by making falls documents. River grabbers are filling the occupied rivers with sands and selling them as plots to the different types of customers to build their houses and markets. The customers are purchasing the plots having an idea that there will be no government or powerful person who can eliminate them from their unethical and illegal occupancy.

But, sometimes some miracle can happen. Let us have an example.  There was a very big building was situated at the end of the Bijoy Sarani at Tejgaon area in Dhaka. This big tower was called as Rangs Bhaban . The building was established during late eighties in the last century. The building was established in the middle of a road by just creating an obstacle for further expansion of a major communication gateway. The owner of that building was a very rich and influential person who had very good relations with some politically powerful persons. That time everybody was thinking that there is no possibility of expansion of the road as the Rangs Tower was standing in the middle of the road as the great obstacle. Actually, the building was prohibiting  the connection of two important roads of eastern Tejgaon area to Bijoy Sarani road.

And yes, some miracle can happen any time. In 2007, a Caretaker government came  to the power in Bangladesh and the building was wipe out from the skyline of Dhaka. If you visit the place now at  the Eastern end of the Bijoy Sarani, you will discover that there is no Rangs Building there. Instead, you can drive your vehicle to the Mohakhali ~ Maghbazaar road from that Bijoy Sarani Road.

How long the Bangladeshi people should wait for the day when a benevolent government will come and wipe out the illegal occupancy from the rivers of Bangladesh from those hands of the Land Robbers and River Grabbers?

People should use their resources in a well judged manner

The global climate change always hits the poorest countries like Bangladesh by breaking down agricultural systems, deteriorating water scarcity, increasing the risks of diseases due to recurring floods, and storms like the Cyclone Sidre. The hurricane Sidre hit on 15^th November midnight in 2007 in the coastal districts particularly Khulna and Barishal while crossing Bangladesh from northern Bay of Bengal. The high tidal surge of 15-16 feet high and strong winds of 260 KM per hour made mass disaster for over 14 hours of strike.

The devastation was so severe that it would take about 10 years to recover from the losses. After Sidre, some people suggested the government to ensure not to take it as an opportunity to make quick money from felled trees, because we need to save the environment.   

Some people expressed their concern that the government should ensure selling of those plants so that some sort of condolence money can be obtained from the felled trees. Every country has different types of their own natural resources and there is no harm if the people use their resources in well judged manner.

Other people argued not to sale the felled trees because of that some crooked auction/ lease owner will cut fresh new trees along with those felled trees and will make extra unfair money by selling both the felled and fresh live trees together.

However, nobody took any decisions and the cyclone felled trees are still lying and being decaying in the coastal areas of the Sundarbans.  

Grow more Date palm tree in Sundarban area

In Bangladesh, you will find this date palm tree abundantly growing here and there without any special care from anybody. Normally the crow, shalik, bulbuli and other small birds act as the disseminator of the seeds of this date palm. However, there are some farmers who take initiatives to collect the plantlets from roadsides and transplant on the borders of their own lands.

The Date palm juice is obtained by removing the top thorny branches with a bend knife. During the early winter (October-November) the Juice collectors or the Gachi prepare the plant for juice production. After removing the thorny braches of the tree, normally they allow about 10-15 days for recovering the tree from the branch-removing shock. Next time, they make a small triangle on the tree-top for a shaving. They make a regular shaving on the upper skin of the triangle on the top of the tree with the sharp knife. A cut piece from a small bamboo is inserted to flow the juice towards a soil-made pot.

In the afternoon, the tree is shaved and the soil-made pot is hanged on the tree top for collection of the juice. The juice excreted from the shaved part of the plant and deposited in the pot. The juice is collected in the morning. Normally, a Gachi (Juice collector) can sale this fresh juice for drinking or he can make brown sugar (Guhr) by boiling the juice. A date palm can give about 350-450 liters of fresh juice in a year. The Brix ratio of the juice is estimated to be around 10 degree. On an average, about 40 kg of brown sugar or Guhr may be produced from a single date palm in a year.

We see a very promising potential from the date palm for an alternative to sugar production from sugarcane. Guhr has a very special flavor which is better than the white sugar produced from sugarcane. People of Bangladesh love to make different kinds of special, tasty, homemade cakes from this Guhr.

The tree is very smart in protecting itself from the hurricane, cyclone and storm. During 2008, I found a date palm tree in the Kochikahli area of Sundarban in Bangladesh. Kochikahli is a sea shore place adjacent to the Bay of Bengal.  That Kochikhali date palm hero saved himself from the cyclone Sidre and still it is standing on the beach. There are also some other coconut and palm trees are still living on that piece of land after Aila, another cyclonic storm that hit the area after the cyclone Sidre.

This hints show us that the date palm, coconut and Palmyra palms are the strong and smart enough that can help Bangladesh saving from the hurricane and cyclonic storm. We may take initiatives to plant these smart trees near the Sundarban area which can support us by regular sugar production and breaking the speeds of the cyclone regularly coming from the Bay of Bengal. 

Fishing is a Hobby-cum-Occupation

Bangladesh is full of small, medium and big water bodies that are very promising for freshwater fisheries production. However, due to excessive application of insecticides and pesticides in the rice fields, most of the areas have become unsuitable as natural breeding place for the different types of local fishes.

People living in the low land areas avail the opportunity of capturing fishes from the open fields after inundation with the flood water. Fishing is a Hobby-cum-Occupation in the low-land areas. This practice becomes a routine work during the monsoon rainy season, when it rains almost every day. 

In the remote villages almost every houses have a pond near them. The Beels, Haaors and other low land areas are teaming with fish, which provides most of the protein for people living in rural areas.