Innovation of ‘wooden poultry sheds’ – a boon for poor carpenters

Ainul Bepari, a professional carpenter lived in Kishoregonj Sadar area. He has a son and two daughters. He had neither his own shop nor any land to cultivate. Unable to afford

land, the family built a cottage on someone else’s property. Ainul worked in a furniture shop on a daily wage basis. His wife, Amena had to work as a domestic aide to help her husband in supporting the family. Sometimes Ainul had no work in hand. With modernization, scope for work was decreasing day by day.  Moreover, people were changing their choice and moving from wooden to iron or steel made furniture. So, the demand for carpenters became less and ultimately he became unemployed. He faced a miserable condition with his family during that time. Day by day it became more and more difficult for him to assure two meals a day for his family.

In the mean time, BRAC developed a prototype of wooden shelters for rearing poultry birds. Ainul saw this as an opportunity to relieve himself of his poverty as well as to become self-employed and thus started making these wooden shelters. The raw materials are easily available and cheap.  He can manufacture on an average 7 shelters in a day and sell each shelter at 300 Tk. making a good profit of about 250-300 Tk./day.  Many rural households are interested to rear their poultry birds in such type of shelters. As a result, the demand is increasing day by day. Moreover, the shelters can be used for several months after which they need replacement. Therefore, there is a requirement of shelters on a regular basis.

Ainul has experienced a significant improvement in his economic condition after involving himself in making these wooden shelters. Now he is neither a seasonal carpenter nor a daily wage worker in someone’s furniture shop. He builds poultry shelters in his house and supplies them to rural households. He is planning to set up a shop in the nearby market for the manufacture and supply of wooden shelters in other areas as the demand of these shelters is rising. He feels that he earns enough to maintain his family. He is also able to save some money for the future. Now his wife is not working as a domestic aide. Instead, she involves herself in CFPR-TUP (Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction-Targeting the Ultra Poor) programme. She took a 3-day long training course on the rearing of livestock after which she received an asset grant of ‘1 cow plus 10 poultry birds’ from BRAC. She also uses the specially designed wooden shelter for the rearing of poultry birds.

Both Ainul and Amena are now self employed and earn a living for their family. It has helped to improve their lives and elevate their social status. They need not starve even a single day and their children have again started their education.   BRAC’s innovation of wooden shelters has helped in creating employment opportunities and improving the lives of the rural poor.

Contributed by - Country Team Bangladesh

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