March 31, 2025

When Rajia Sultana lost her home in Bangladesh to river erosion, she discovered a new passion in vegetable gardening. After migrating to another village with so many others displaced by river erosion, Rajia and her family struggled to make ends meet. Her husband’s tailoring wasn’t bringing in enough money, so Rajia started cultivating vegetables on the family’s small plot of land. But before long, she became discouraged by excessive costs and her lack of gardening knowledge.

One of World Renew’s local partners, PARI, initiated the Dewangonj Agriculture Development Program (DADP) in this locality with the main goal of improving food security for families like Raija’s. One day, after seeing Rajia’s garden, a PARI staff member invited her to join a female farmers group to learn more about agriculture.

Rajia started attending group meetings and lessons on agriculture, which reignited her passion for gardening and inspired her to pursue new learning opportunities. She is now implementing much more efficient gardening methods such as the use of homemade compost. By applying what she learned, Rajia has lowered gardening costs and increased her yields. Now, she produces enough vegetables to not only meet her family’s needs but also to sell to help support her family.

Recently, her group elected her to be a member of the agriculture forum, which provided even broader opportunities for her to lead and connect with her community.

“Being a woman, I faced many challenges in vegetable gardening,” said Rajia. “However, PARI helped me to overcome all those challenges and to stay focused on achieving my goal. I am thankful to PARI for connecting me with a female agriculture group and for continuing to support me in pursuing my passion for agriculture.”

Rajia attends every group meeting and continues to cultivate her skills as she contributes to her community.