Mainapur is a small village on the banks of a stagnant canal, surrounded by fish farms spread over a wide area.The village, included in Dhamalia Union of Dumuria Upazila of Khulna, has 44 families. A total of seven children have been born in the village in the last four years, with only one child born in the last year.
The village is about 80 km away from Khulna city. The primary sources of income for the locals are fish cages and daily wages. There are no fruit trees in this natural calamity-prone area, and low-income residents are unable to afford fruits regularly. They can buy and eat some seasonal fruits every year. Their main food is fish, rice, pulses, and vegetables collected from around their homes.
Due to various natural calamities, including storms and floods, this village is the most damaged in Dhamalia Union. Almost every year, saline water enters the village reservoir and fish enclosures. According to local residents, the Dhamalia Union family planning inspector, and a family welfare assistant, several families have relocated from the village due to waterlogging and financial hardship. As a result, the number of children has also decreased. Only seven babies have been born in the entire village in the last four years, and the age gap between the first and second child in families ranges from eight to twelve years.
The village is severely malnourished and poverty-stricken, with a fertility rate far below the average. According to the Dumuria Union Health and Family Welfare Center, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Khulna district is 1.9, while it is only 0.12 in Mainapur village.
Locals say that the economic condition of the village residents is not very good. Malnutrition is also evident. The village is often subjected to various disasters. Several families have migrated from the village in the past few years. Even those who are receiving some education are not interested in living in the village. There is a noticeable reluctance among the villagers to have children.
Coastal districts of the country have now become disaster-prone due to climate change. Poor residents of these areas are in the most vulnerable situation. Food security in disaster-prone areas affects the reproductive behavior of local populations, experts say. Many studies, both domestically and internationally, have documented the reduction of fertility rates due to climate change and its adverse effects on food security.
The house at the beginning of Mainapur village belongs to Uttam Mandal, who is over forty-five years old. He has a homeopathy medicine shop on the balcony of his house. He said that almost all the residents of the village work as daily wage laborers. However, being an isolated village, they have to travel to distant areas for work. Even if they grow rice and vegetables on their own land, it does not meet the needs of their families. Some villagers have small fish enclosures, but they are insufficient to support their families. Several families have migrated from the village in the past few years, deepening the crisis.
Anwarul Azim, Deputy Director of the Khulna Family Planning Department, said that the situation in Mainapur will be looked into seriously. He mentioned that although the TFR in Bangladesh is above two, it is close to three in some places and less than one in others. The fertility rate of the entire district cannot be explained by the figure for Mainapur alone, but the matter will be taken seriously.
The only educational institution in the village is about to close due to a lack of students. Swapna Rani, Acting Principal of Mainapur Government Primary School No. 203, said that this school was established as a community school in 1990. Currently, there is only one student enrolled, who is in the second grade. There were two other five-year-old children, but they could not be admitted due to a lack of birth registration.
Dhamalia Union family planning workers and locals in Dumuria reported that only one girl was born in the village last year. Such a child crisis occurred in the village 18 years ago. If the couples who got married this year do not have children, the village will be childless next year as well.
Across the canal is another village in Jessore’s Keshabpur Upazila, also called Mainapur. This village, with 53 families, has a government primary school with the same name, and 18 students attend this school. The distance between the two schools is about 200 yards. The situation in that village is almost the same.
Professor Mohammad Moinul Islam from the Department of Population Science at Dhaka University believes that research should be conducted on the issue of Mainapur. He told Bonik Barta that, in general, we see a relationship between poverty and higher birth rates in our society. But the situation in Mainapur is different. There is some concern that the village faces a child crisis every 15-20 years, which leaves a huge gap between generations.