Bangladesh Roadside Tree Plantation

Kevin J. Cundiff, Sr. of Washington Missouri in USA had attended a high school in St. Louis Missouri called McBride High School. He graduated from the high school in 1971. One of his classmates, Bill Genova, has donated the fund of $1,270 for one kilometer of roadside plantation and cost of the memorial stone in memory of Kevin. The trees on this roadside and the cemented memorial stone will remain in honor of him for the expected length of the plantation, before harvesting in 15-20 years. When the trees are harvested, the poor will receive 60% of the income, the local government and PEP will each receive 20%.

Progress Report on 45 kilometers Roadside Tree Plantation Project

Introduction:

This year, during the rainy season in Bangladesh, there was excessive rainfall and extensive flooding. Because of the loss of crops from floods, the price of the most basic food item, namely rice, rose from Tk. 38 to Tk. 52 per kg. within a few weeks. Even with import of much rice by the government, this price has remained at this high level. At the same time, plantation of crops as well as of young saplings became risky as they could be washed away or badly damaged before they grew sufficiently to withstand the excess rainwater.

Although the fund raised till late September for roadside tree plantation was sufficient to plant 11 kms. of roadsides, only 5 kms. were completed before the end of the rainy season. The additional plantations and fund allowing further plantations would be planted early in the 2018 rainy season, which extends basically from June to late September. In June, rains are traditionally lighter now due to climate change and young saplings are not expected to be damaged by excessive rain and high winds. So we will try to do 2018 plantations by early June as per fund availability. If additional fund comes before the end of the rainy season, we may again do some later plantations.

Five roadsides with plantations:

All five roadsides planted were located in Bogra district in northwestern Bangladesh. Two of the roads are in Bishalpur union of Sherpur sub-district/upazila. One is from Mandail Panisara village Beaubazar. A special memorial stone is being prepared in the name of Kevin J. Cundiff of the USA, who died at the age of 63 of pancreatic cancer. A classmate of Kevin’s from the high school graduating class of 1969, Bill Genova, made the donation, requesting that this plantation be a memorial plantation in Kevin’s name. The memorial stone is under preparation and will be shown on the website after a few more days. The tree caretaker is named Sobura. Details of the five caretakers and some photos are provided below:

The 2^nd road, also in Bishalpur union runs from the paved road in Beltola village to Panch Deoli village. The tree caretaker is Jahan of Panch Deoli village, who is the poorest of the five caretakers that have been hired for these five roadside plantations. Details about her family and a photo are presented below.

The three other roadsides are all in Taltha Majhgram union of Nandigram sub-district. The first of these runs from Gopalpur north para to Gulia village paved road; the caretaker is Monowara. The 2^nd is from Gopalpur Hindu para to Gulia paved road with the caretaker being Saraswati. The 5^th roadside runs from Bongram village to Durnar canal and has an elderly caretaker Taslima.

Tree caretakers:

For each roadside of one kilometer or so, one poor woman from nearby is getting employment for three years to nurture the young saplings. They are provided training by PEP and receive implements they need for the work, including water can, weeder and the supply of rope to tie the young saplings to bamboo sticks to help them grow straight. For the roads over one kilometer, women are paid Tk. 2,000 ($25) per month and for the shorter roads of less than one kilometer they are paid Tk. 1,500 ($18.75) per month.

Each of them is taught to plan part of the income to try to get an economic asset (a young cow, poultry, a used bicycle rickshaw or van, etc.). To ensure that after the 3 years’ employment, they will have continuing income. The women and men social workers who are responsible to regularly contact the poor families in the area of each roadside, also visit the roadsides to help the caretakers with any problems they have.

The story of Jahan:

Jahan who is now about 65 years old, lost her husband Chan about 9 years ago; he was suffering from paralysis for last 8 years. Chan used make different handcrafts with bamboo and cane. Jahan has a daughter named Popy (23), who had married a man named Shofi about 6 years ago, who is from her nearby village. Shofi drives rickshaw in Dhaka city and visits home once in every 2/3 months. Popy lives with her mother as Shofi stays most of the time in Dhaka. Popy has a son named Abu Taher (4).

Jahan and her family live in what is called a “Gucho Gram”. This is a government resettlement project of 80 families landless families who have been resettled here. She has no other land and only a small thatch house. She had been begging in villages to get food to feed herself, her daughter and granddaughter. From July 12^th, she became an employee of PEP to care for the trees on the roadside near her home and receives Tk. 1,500 ($18.75) payment per month. Over three years this will amount to Tk. 54,000 ($675) and Jahan plans to purchase a young female calf with about Tk. 25,000 ($312.50) and raise it, so that the family will have ongoing income in the future. The rest of her income would be used for family expenses.

Brief information on other four tree caretakers:

Sobura, wife of Idris is from Panisara village of Sherpur sub-district. She has one son and one daughter; her family consists of 4 members. They can somehow manage two simple meals a day. They have no cultivable or homestead land and live in a house provided by others. PEP has recruited her as tree watcher from July 5, 2017; she is getting Tk. 2,000 ($25) per month for her dedicated service. A total of 1,320 trees have been planted in her area of over one km. from Mandail village to Panisara village tin-matha.

Saraswati, wife of Late Upen is from Gopalpur village of Sherpur sub-district. Her family consists of 3 members including her daughter and granddaughter. She has only 3 decimals of homestead land. She has no livestock but rears a cow on share system with its owner. She was recruited on July 19, 2017 as a tree caretaker and is getting Tk. 1,500 ($18.75) per month for taking care of 673 trees of 0.7 km.

Monowara, wife of Mozahar is from Gopalpur village of Nandigram sub-district. Her husband is an old person and cannot work. Her daughter and two grandchildren live with her as her daughter lost her husband. There are 5 members in her family. She has no cultivable or homestead land and lives on government khas land. She looks after 693 trees of 0.7 km. from Gopalpur north para to Gulia paved road.

Taslima (60), wife of Mokbul (70) is from Bongram village of Nandigram sub-district. She has three sons; the elder son is 45 years old, the 2^nd son 40 and the youngest one is 35. All of them are married and living separately with their own families. There are only two member in her family—she herself and her husband. Her husband is very old and cannot work due to over age. They have no cultivable land, but only 2 decimals of homestead land where they are dwelling on a 13 square-feet tin-roofing house; the wall of this house is made by bamboo. They are cultivating 3 cows and 2 goats on share system from the owner of these livestock. Their sons are also poor and cannot help their parents much. Taslima has recently earned Tk. 2,500 ($31.25) by working as tree caretaker of PEP GlobalGiving tree plantation project and thinks that it is a blessing for her family.

We thank all our generous donors for their assistance and will continue to update all of you as the trees gradually grow to maturity and as the caretakers uplift themselves from their present poverty level.