‘One House, One Farm’ project is under implementation in Jhenidah building financial independence for rural people. According to Jhenidah sadar upazila nirbahi office sources, a total of 24,480 beneficiaries have been brought under ‘Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar’ project of the government in the district since 2009. As beneficiary usually owns a piece of land adjacent to his or her house, under the project, each beneficiary has deposited Tk 200 per month as savings, and the government offered the same amount of money to each beneficiary as grant per month, the sources said. Terming the project as unique, it was launched in 2009 initially for five years till June, 2014, but it was later extended to June, 2016.
 Under the project, 153 committees were formed in 17 union parishads in Jhenidah sadar. Each committee is comprised of 60 members.  The head of the project is sadar upazila nirbahi officer Julker Nayen.
Rural Development and Cooperative Division, Ministry of Local Govern-ment, Rural Development and Cooperatives with district Administration, in particular, Deputy Commissioner and his officials are involved in the project as the executing agencies, the sources added.
Beneficiary Siddique Hossain of Kastoshagra village under Kalicharanpur union said he is with the project from 2009. In 2012, he has taken loan amounting to Tk 8,000 and bought a goat. ‘Now, I have a total of 11 goats,’ he said.
Rokeya Begum of Kallyanpur village in Surat union said:  ‘I have taken loan amounting to Tk 10,000 from the project in 2012, when I started growing vegetables and selling those in the markets. Now, I own 3 percent of land in my village.’
Mostafizur Rahman of Goyshpur village in Paglakanai union said ‘I took Tk 10,000 as loan and started a grocery shop in the village in 2014. Now, my family is leading a descent life.’
Nizam Uddin of Kulfadanga village in Maharajpur union said he took loan on three occasions amounting to Tk 10,000, Tk 15,000 and Tk 28,000.
He said the project is having positive impact on all the beneficiaries as they are gaining profit through their involvement in different income-generating activities.
Sadar upazila project coordinator of Jhenidah Soumen Somaddar said before they took up economic venture all the beneficiaries were trained up on different trades of agro-farming, including fisheries, poultry, animal husbandry, nursery and gardening.
The objectives of the project aim at assisting poor farm families for capital gain, sharpening their skills by training, enabling them to develop need-based small farms and helping them take decision independently, he also said.
Jhenidah sadar upazila nirbahi officer and chief coordinator of the project Julker Nayen said the goal of the project is to alleviate poverty and ensure sustainabledevelopment through farming and other income generating works.
He said the beneficiaries have deposited Tk 2.5 crores in the fund and the government offered an amount of Tk 2.2 crores to run the project in Jhenidah.