By and large, Varaura is a poor village but, I suppose, lies in a rich location. The Dhaka-Sylhet highway passes by the side of the village and Srimongal is five minutes' walk from the village. I saw few buildings at the centre of the paddy fields, as if bricks got over bountiful rice fields. Reportedly, lands lie in the hands of the businessmen and Londonis (settlers in London). Some of the villagers lost land when they wanted to go to London but were cheated by the middlemen. The dominant form of tenancy in the village is share cropping with traditional fifty-fifty arrangements. But unlike elsewhere in Bangladesh, the landlord does not share the costs of inputs. In that sense, Varaura village is still backward.

Old is not gold!

While modern varieties of rice (MVs) began spreading fast in Bangladesh, Varaura village continued to cling to the cultivation of traditional crops. The per acre yield of these crops are very low, say, 7-8 maunds/Kare (30 decimals). Such a yield reminded me of the 1960s when my own villagers used to bag home poor harvests from local varieties. However, recently the Agricultural Advisory Society (AAS) -- an NGO working for Poverty Elimination Through Rice Research Assistance (PETRRA) project -- stepped into helping resource poor farmers. The purpose of PETRRA is to help moderately poor farmers or future poor farmers with cost effective technologies to raise rice output so that they can graduate from present position. These targeted 'resource poor' farmers have land endowments not exceeding 100 decimals or so, they work for others' land and can meet rice needs of 6-7 months from own sources. It is assumed that if these resource poor could be provided with suitable technologies and some knowledge about rice cropping practices, possibly, they would rise up and not join the ranks of the poor. However, as per PETRRA-path, AAS came forward to introduce MVs like BRRI dhan 28 and 29 to Varaura villagers. It is estimated that the yield rate of these crops is three times the traditional ones.

But risk-averse as they were, the resource poor farmers of the village refused to accept an unknown, unseen and unheard of package at the initial stage. AAS then selected a sample of resource-poor farmers and provided them with seeds and fertilizers free of cost. The risks thus were shared between AAS and the target resource poor farmers. The selected farmers grew the MVs and demonstrated the developments in the fields where, like an industrial exhibition, farmers from far and wide came to visit "paddy stalls" of the resource-poor farmers.

Not by seed alone

Seed is the source of growing rice but could turn sour if not handled properly and judiciously. Keeping this in mind, AAS also arranged training programmes for both male and female farmers. The former was trained on roguing the fields and the latter, on preservation of seeds at homestead. According to a farmer, his wife now shares almost half the hard labour in sustaining good seeds. Farmers have been advised on how to grow seeds from the foundation seeds that they were provided with and also how to prepare productive seedbeds. Farmers told me that, the training are paying dividends in terms of increased yield per unit of land and seeing the size of the crops grown, the villagers of Varaura have been vying for MVS. As Janab Abdul Hamid said to me: "BRRI dhan 28 and 29 are good for the poor because 2 Kares of land now take care of five Kares." Janab Hamid wanted to indicate that what used to be grown in five Kares in the past are now being grown in 2 Kares of land. For the poor with little endowments of land, this also meant that the endowments of their lands doubled over time!

By the time I visited the village, three-fourths of farmers have already adopted MVs. No more free lunch! (There is no free lunch after all). Farmers are now ready to pay for seeds and fertilizers and other input costs to reap home a better harvest that has never been dreamt of. Meantime, they also learnt about the balanced doses of fertilizers and some of the farmers I met, even taught me about the impacts of different types of fertilizers on rice plants. However, good luck for them, as the water is free and flowing from the hills through narrow canals locally known as "chara". Food supply increased and paripassu food availability for households also went up. Food deficit has been reduced by 2-3 months, I was told by a sample of farmers.

Good and bad luck

During my visit to the village, I talked to three young and energetic resource-poor farmers. They are Nikesh (26), Mozam (20) and Fahim (25). The average size of their owned land is estimated at 85 decimals and they were shouldering the responsibilities of feeding their respective family of seven or so. Interestingly, at the very outset, these young farmers responded to the call of AAS and embraced the risks of growing MVs in their fields. But at times risk is also rewarding. In the 2001/02-boro season, Nikesh produced six maunds of seeds and stored it in the house in suitable containers. Bad luck for Bangladesh, a serious seed crisis broke during 2002/03-boro season. At that time BADC seeds of Tk.16/kg were sold at Tk. 30/kg in the black market. Many other organisations, allegedly, sold their seeds also at Tk. 25-30/kg. Seemingly there was no light at the end of the tunnel for the resource-poor farmers of Varaura. But the bane appeared as a boon for Nikesh and his friend Fahim. Nikesh sold out 5.5 maunds of seeds @Tk.600/maund and reaped home a rich return. His friend Fahim also sold three maunds. The buyers were from their own village and from far and wide. The crisis called upon the said villagers to be cautious as far as seed is concerned. Now they keep seeds with due care and do not sell them unless driven by dire distress. Nikesh and Fahim know it well and therefore unwilling this time to hedge. The farmers of Varaura and especially the resource-poor have learnt a lot about seed -- growing and preservation. Of course, a sudden flood could tell upon their fate or heavy monsoon could cause them rainy days. But since the fluctuations in yields narrowed down substantially, any shock of that kind may cripple them for a while but, perhaps, not kill them -- the sample farmers said to me. The technologies and the techniques of production thus soon became saviour of the poor in Varaura village.

Promising poor

According to T. W Schultz, the Nobel Laureate in economics: small farmers are very much rational and efficient. They try to maximise the objective function subject to the endowments of resources, knowledge and technology. An expansion of the frontier of knowledge through training, extension and at times by the provision of subsidy could enhance their production possibility frontier. The earlier position of clinging to age-old cultivation by the Varaura farmers was perhaps the product of those factors. Meantime, new knowledge and technology have expanded their frontier. This valuable message seems to have been given by the villagers of Varaura.

As they sow, so they reap. Allow me to add: as they see, so they sow.

NAbdul Bayes is Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University