1. Rural Enterprise Development
Market Infrastructure Development in Charland Region, LGED
IDE-Bangladesh
Region: Bhola
Type: Success Story
Sector: Collection Point
Beneficiary: 1000 fish producer
In the remote locationof Boro char SamayavillagesinBhola, there wasonlybig market place- Santirhat
Bazaar. Even though it had been running for the last 40 years, it was a weak market: underdeveloped
and difficult to access. In August 2009, a collection pointv(CP) was established in the existing market
withthe supportof Rural Enterprise Development(RED) project.Insimplestterms, acollectionpointis a
‘spot’ or ‘zone’ the rural community people themselves have created by coming together and
assembling their produce and selling to buyers who come from different places.
Objectivesof the REDprojectinclude identifyingmarketopportunities,additionof value tothe products
and capacity building of the small char producers, so that they will link to market and economic
opportunities in the fish and vegetable sub-sector. The CP established through the project has gained
huge momentuminthe lastone year. It startedoff as a collectioncentre of certain fingerling products,
and now has grown into a full-fledged market of fish, fingerling, vegetables, and fish feed.
The project staff facilitated formation of a 15-membered Collection Point Management Committee
(CPMC) to enable andensure the runningof CP.The committee ispromotingthe CP to potential distant
fingerlingmarkets, asfaras Jessore district,toobtainquality fingerlings for sale at the CP. A number of
meetings and workshops (7 nos.) have been facilitated which have brought together (20-30 nos.)
fingerling producers, fingerling traders, fish and vegetable producing farmers to transact business.
Linkage was also facilitated among the other actors in the fish subsector: public and private partner
organizations, input sellers, producers and dealers. Public partners included the Department of
Agriculture (DAE) and Department of Fisheries (DoF) who provided crucial information and business
support to the farmers. Private input companies were successfully linked with the CP: Lal Teer(for
vegetable seeds), Mega Feed(fish feed), Fish Tech(for medicine, technical support and pond
management) ,AmberHatchery(fishfry) andParagon(fishfeed ),whonotonlysuppliedqualityinput to
the evergrowingnumberof (fishandvegetableproducing) farmersinvolvedinthe CP,butalsoprovided
varioustraining, demonstration and related service for rearing quality fish and cultivating vegetables.
Regular workshops and meetings has ensured that the CP is linked with different feed, medicine and
seedsellingcompanies,dealersandwholesalerstomake the marketeffectiveandcompetitive,ensuring
availabilityof those inputsinthe collectionpoint .Recently,newtechnologywasintroducedinproducing
local ‘shing’fish,whichwasnotofferedinthe CPbefore and is in great demand. As of now, the biggest
sales are in pangas, rui, katla and tilapia (for fish) and cucumber, chilli and sponge gourd (for
vegetables).
As of the data from the last three months (May-July 2010), around 6 million fingerling and around
12,000 sacks of feedhasbeenbought/sold in the CP, generating sales of around one core 50 lac taka. 8
new rickshaw van (for carrying mounds of vegetable and fish) has joined in. The numbers are a fair

2. indicator of how much the market has progressed and the extent of its reach. Fish and vegetable
production has increased by 8 kg and 7 kg respectively per decimal. On an average total income has
increasedby 685 taka perdecimal. The CP has itsreach in50 villagesin12 unionparishads. 5new shops
have opened in the haat and 65 new ‘patilwalas’(fishmongers) have joined in as well.
Businessisboomingand the marketisexpanding. Local entrepreneursare planningtobe part of this
lucrative businessbyinvestinginvegetable andfishproduction,forthe demandforthese isgrowingby
the day.