Belayet Hossain was a landless person in Rasulpur village who took a small loan to start a roadside store but struggled with competition. The Rural Enterprise Development (RED) project aimed to improve livelihoods by addressing inconsistent supply and access to inputs. RED workshops helped Belayet realize selling fish feed could be profitable since many families owned ponds. He took a loan to open a fish feed store, which IDE-B helped promote. His sales increased as more people engaged in aquaculture and purchased feed from his store. Belayet now earns a profit of 2 taka per kg sold and feels successful as an entrepreneur with a growing business.

1. Rural Enterprise Development
Market Infrastructure Development in Charland Region, LGED
IDE-Bangladesh
Region: Noakhali
Type: Case Study
Sector: Feed seller
Beneficiary: Belayet Hossain
BelayetHossainisaninhabitantof RasulpurvillageinBoyerChar, Hatia.In 1997, he tookrefuge inBoyer
Char as a landless person,andlaterwasgiven1.5 acre land underthe resettlement project CDSP I (Char
Development and Settlement Project). He took a small loan from CDSP’s partner NGO and started a
small roadside store (“mudir dokan”) in Hatia Bazar. He earned his living from both farming in his land
and fromthe store. Though sales were good in the beginning, things changed over the course of time.
Rival shops soon set up in the same area, but number of customers did not increase. As a result,
competition became intense, and Belayet found it next to impossible to earn a decent living. He was
reeling under the pressure of running his seven-membered family with the limited income and was
desperately looking around for an alternate source of income.
Belayet found new hope in the interventions of RED
project,which aimed to reduce poverty by improving
livelihood of around 20,000 primary producers,
traders (such as himself) and landless people in the
coastal char. RED’s study of the area revealed that
rural market growth is very slow because of low
volume of products and inconsistent supply of
productsroundthe year.It wasfound that availability
and access to inputs, technical advice, and extension
support is very poor in this region. He attended RED-
facilitatedmeetings and linkage workshops and soon
came to the realization thathis shop would flourish once again, provided he sold what was in demand
and whatcouldnot be foundinthe rival shops. An analysis was conducted which showed that if Boyer
Char had roughly 10,000 families then they would own at least 500 ponds. Belayet could be at a great
profitif he could supplyfishfeedtothese pondssince unavailableof qualityinputs(fingerlings, feed etc
incase of fish),andlackof access isa big constraintforthe producer to increase the yield per unit area.
RED arranged a number of technical workshops as it was evident weak technical knowledge of farmer
inhibitsthe properuse of natural resource (land,wateretc) thatthe smallholdersalreadyhave available
to them. Belayetattendedafewof such one-dayworkshopsonaquaculture andgained insight into fish
farming,hatchingfries andfishfeed.He was encouragedtostartafresh- tostock hisshop with fish feed
and start aquaculture ona commercial basis. He took a loan of 60,000 taka from RFLDC-DANIDA funded

2. “Boyer char Jubo Unnion Shongho” and opened a fish feed store in March 2010. Later, he gradually
introduced feed for poultry and cattle as well. IDE-B helped him promote his store, and facilitated
linkage between him and farmers in the village so that he could establish himself as a reputed feed
seller in the entire area.
Thingsgot increasinglybetterforBelayet.Ashisstore gainedinrepute, his sales went up. His customer
base till date is around 210, of which 60- 70 are regular customers. In fact, he himself has noted a
marked increase in interest in aquaculture among his friends and neighbors. On an average, he sells
around25 sacksof feedpermonth.Each sack contains50 kg of feed,andhe makesa profit of 2 taka per
kg. His present earning per month is 2500 taka from the store alone and they are on the rise as more
and more people in the vicinity are (a) getting to know about his store and (b) getting engaged in fish
farmingandgoingto himfor the input.Belayet already feelslike asuccessful entrepreneurand believes
that if he continues to work hard, the future is bright indeed.