Hridoye Mati o Manush

‘The only culture in Bangladesh is Agriculture’ – Shykh Seraj

Bangladesh, being a developing country, is highly dependent on the Agricultural sector. Almost 45% of the labour force are involved in this sector and make a living out of it ⁽²⁾. However In most cases they tend to be the ones living under the condition of poverty, therefore faces various difficulties in carrying out crop production.

Thus, the concept of Hridoye Mati o Manush was developed by Shykh Seraj, an Agriculture Activist in Bangladesh. His main aim has been to voice the concerns of such marginalized farmers and hence create a platform for them, hence alleviate poverty and increase the economic development. This program intended to draw the attention from the government, policy makers, International organizations, stakeholders, entrepreneurs, civil society etc ⁽⁴⁾. They primarily started off by broadcasting this program through television, which is mass media, but then extended onto to posting these videos on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

At an education rate of only 56.8% ⁽²⁾ and barely any exposure to social media, the farmers do not really have any scope of sharing their concerns themselves. They are mostly deprived of their rights to receive a good price for their crops, which is mainly a result of lack of knowledge about the value of those crops in the actual market and power to say anything against the government. This program has therefore acted as an intermediary to bridge the gap between the farming community and the government and the rest of the world. Even though the farmers were not directly involved in using social media, this program has acted on behalf on them. The team collects all the data and concerns and presents them to the general people and the stakeholders.

The availability of the episodes on YouTube has largely exposed the program to the international community and drew attention of the UN Agencies and Policy makers. Farmers’ involvement have hugely increased in key decision e.g. Budget planning, pricing etc. Even if the farmers are not directly involved in using social media, the program uses it for the.

Significant and successful outcomes of this program include the change in the marketing strategy of locally grown tomatoes by the government to increase sales and reduce imports of tomatoes. They were also able to attract private sectors in investing in agriculture and therefore get more involved ⁽⁴⁾. This created more work for the farmers and allowed them to have a fixed income and market. Also, this year 25000 farmers participated in a pre-budget discussion from different districts and made 55 recommendations ⁽⁶⁾. The government have also set up an Information center for the Farmers called the Union Information Service Center (UISU) so as to increase the farmers' knowledge about the evolving methods of farming and the use of technology ^(6).

^{(1) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI}

^{(2) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html}

^{(3) http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=209133}

^{(4) http://www.shykhseraj.com/}

⁽⁵⁾ http://en.rsf.org/report-bangladesh,52.html

⁽⁶⁾ http://www.thedailystar.net/starinsight/2012/06/01/farmers.htm

Bibliography:

Shykh Seraj. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.shykhseraj.com/programme/hridoye_mom_overview.php?ov=3

The World Factbook: Central Intelligence Agency. (n.d.). Retrieved from Central Inteligence Agency: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bg.html

Bangladesh 146th among 189 countries. (2011, November). Retrieved from The Daily Star: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=209133

Gini Index: The World Bank. (2012). Retrieved from The World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI

Bangladesh: Reporters without Borders. (2011). Retrieved from Reporters without Borders: http://en.rsf.org/report-bangladesh,52.html

Farmer's Voice in Budget: Star Insight. (2012, June). Retrieved from Star Insight: http://www.thedailystar.net/starinsight/2012/06/01/farmers.htm

Group: South Asia Workspace

Note: This work will be further edited.