Peasants, housewives smile, heave a sigh of reliefMobile rice grinder providing door-to-door service in Chandpur

Due to the rapid development of modern science and technology, mobile paddy grinding machines or rice mills, that used to be available in the rural haats and bazars on weekly haat days, are now available reaching the rural people's homes and yards in Chandpur district.

Getting the service at hand, the farmers and their housewives as well smile and heave a sigh of relief.

When this correspondent visited a few places in Matlab Uttar upazila recently, he found an enterprising young man named Asad Ali (42), a resident of Shikirchar village of the upazila, busy breaking and grinding the recently harvested IRRI-boro/aus paddy into rice at the yard of a home known as - Bepari Bari in Dakhshin Shikirchar village.

Asad said he remains awfully busy and earns about Tk1,000 or more daily by doing this work with his mobile rice mill. Consequently, small farmers and housewives are so happy that the paddy grinding machine or rice mill is at their home yards.

They have to pay less money , spend less time and give less labour too for getting this hard work done at home yards. They don't have to go to weekly haats and bazars. Even farmers do not have to stay necessarily at home for grinding their paddy.

Housewives and children alone can get it done at home easily when their husbands are away in working in the crop fields far away from homes too.

Talking to the FE, Asad said, he has been doing this work for the past few years. Every day, he earns about Tk1,000 to Tk1,500 by grinding about 90 or 100 maunds of paddy after excluding all other expenditures.

He said if or when necessary, he is called through cell phones by men, women and then he arrives at their homes with his mobile rice mill , made of power tiller to which he has attached paddy grinding machine of rice mill.

He is economically self -reliant and can run his family properly and send his children to schools and take proper care of his elderly parents.

Following in his footsteps, some other enterprising youths are also doing this work in the neighbouring villages.

As a result, this work is removing poverty, solving unemployment problems and making youths economically self- reliant and

turning rural people's life easier and more comfortable.

"Now all troubles are gone. No tension," said with smiles farmers- Ahammad Ullah , Kalu Bepari and housewife Amena Begum of Thakurchar village.

Kamal Hossain of Char Krishnapur village of the upazila also echoed the same feelings of comfort and easy works.

Meanwhile, it was observed that this type of rice mill /grinding machine is getting popular in all other upazilas of the district too.

A Mannan and Mobarak Hossain, officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Chandpur, said, due to modern technology ,this machine is now getting popular day by day in the rural areas all over the district.

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