Abul Hossain
Fruit Farmer
From selling fruits by the streets during his childhood, Abul Hossain has worked hard enough in his life through cultivating litchis to have earned crores.
Abul Hossain has been growing litchis for the past 18 years on one acre and 37 decimals of land. Son of late Dalil Uddin Khan, he is from Khaertala village under Kaliganj Upazila of Jhenidah. The cultivation of this fruit brought him a profit of more than five lakh taka last year alone. He said that it is more profitable than conventional crop cultivation.
His father, he said, was a day labourer. They never owned a piece of land and used to lease land from others to cultivate different crops in the past. Being the eldest son, the whole burden of his family -- consisting of his mother, younger brother and sister -- was put on his shoulders after his father passed away. He had to quit school at a very tender age as a consequence, and had to sacrifice his childhood to take care of the burdens brought on him so suddenly.
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Photo: Jashim Salam/ Drik News |
He started off with very many odd jobs that included a small business, working on other peoples' lands, and gathering fruits for sale by the streets. The dream of a litchi orchard grew within him from that time.
His dreams turned real when he planted 99 litchi trees at his orchard. The garden has grown so beautifully that people from all around throng the place just to get a glimpse. Abul Hossain wants to grow his business by cultivating other traditional crops.
He says he can make an extra one lakh and fifty thousand taka yearly if his business is expanded in such manner. He has already planted mango trees on 57 decimals of land last year as an expansion of his business with the profits he earned from selling litchis.
Besides that, he had also invested in the vegetable trade that has fetched him a handsome profit as well. His business has grown so much that Hossain now owns two trucks, has been able to build a comfortable house and owns nine bigha of personal land.
He has made sure that his children were not deprived of education as Hossain himself was during growing up.
The Agricultural Officer from Kaliganj Upazila, Alimuzzaman, has commended the success of Abul Hossain. Alimuzzaman says that most farmers in the area are inclined towards farming litchis as it has proven to be more profitable than other crops.
By Azibor Rahman
Md Shafiqul Islam Talukder
Fish Farmer
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Md Shafiqul Islam Talukder (right). Photo: Star |
MD Shafiqul Islam Talukder, a young fish farmer, now earns around Tk 15 lakh per year from his 80 ponds. Shafiqul is popular among the fish farmers in the district for his devotion to breeding indigenous varieties of fishes.
Shafiqul, son of late Fayez Uddin Talukder and Rezia Khatun of Naldighi village under Phulpur upazila of Mymensingh, started fish farming on commercial basis in 1994, after passing his HSC from Phulpur Degree College.
“I started with three ponds, spending Tk three lakh, and now the total capital of my project, 'Satata Matsya Hatchery and Fishery', is over one crore,” Shafiqul informed.
He later attended several training programmes organised by Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) in Mymensingh on fish farming and developing skills associated with cultivation.
“I was interested in fish farming since childhood and I grew fishes in our own ponds, collecting fish fries from Brahmaputra river,” said Shafiqul. “I made a profit of Tk 5000 then that made me more interested in fish farming later in life.”
Though Shafiqul started commercial fish farming with carps of different varieties, now he is more interested in endangered local species.
He took up the challenge of breeding indigenous varieties in his ponds with a view to producing fish fries in 2005 and that too with tremendous success. Growing shing, koi, magur, puti, pabda, gulsha, fali, ayir, mahashoal and chital in his ponds has been an example for many.
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Photo: Mumit M. |
Traders from different districts of the country including Sylhet, Bogra and Comilla come to his farm to buy fish fries. Inspired by his success, more than 100 fish farmers have taken up the vocation in his area and its surrounding villages like Taldighi, Baroipara, Rankanda, Daudpur, Majhiali, Lautia etc.
Many of them have developed mini hatcheries, making themselves self-reliant, said Shafiqul, adding, “I rendered support to them in the early stages and I try to inspire the young interested in this profession.”
Shafiqul also created job opportunity for some 50 people on a permanent basis. In the harvesting period, the demand for day labourers increases. On the problem and prospect of this sector, Shafiqul said that the manpower at the fisheries offices should be increased.
“The price of fish feed has doubled in the last couple of years and the prices of medicines related to this cultivation have also increased 20 to 30 percent in last five years,” informed Shafiqul. The prices of fish feed and medicines should be controlled for better interest of the fisheries sector, he opined.
Shafiqul remains a humble man despite his economic success. He expressed his deepest gratitude to scientists for providing the necessary technical supports, which contributed to his tremendous success in this sector.
Shafiqul mentioned some names including Dr. Rafiqul Islam Sarder and Dr. Nazrul Islam of Fisheries Faculty, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU); Dr. Golam Hossain, former director general of BFRI; senior scientific officers of BFRI -- Dr. AHM Kohinoor, Dr. Shah Ali and Phulpur Upazila Fisheries Officer, Abdul Quddus.
Shafiqul has also secured some prestigious awards for his contribution to this field.
“I was given the best prizes offered by BFRI in 2009 and 2010,” he said. In 2009 and 2010 his efforts in the fisheries field were acknowledged by the District Fisheries Office and Phulpur Upazila Fisheries Office respectively. The success story of Shafiqul was also featured in the popular programme, “Mati O Manush”.
By Aminul Islam
Morzina Begum
Vegetable & Spice Cultivator
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"Until four years back, we didn't even get two meals a day. But things looked up for us,” said Morzina Begum of Joyrampur Anwar village under Mithapukur upazila of Rangpur district.
Morzina Begum got married to a day labourer, Babul Miah, of the same village. But her husband died in a road accident 10 years after the marriage. “With my two daughters and a son with special needs, I saw darkness all around,” Morzina recalled.
Morzina remarried. However, with the income of her husband Shahjahan Miah, of the same village, she could not feed all members of the family twice a day.
Morzina started contemplating ways to add to the family income. She wanted to join her husband as a day labourer but her husband objected.
Eventually, she decided to grow vegetables on a 7 decimal land by their house. In the first year she earned Tk 40,000 by selling beans, onions and tomatoes.
She was encouraged by this success. Next year, she cultivated banana, guava and plum on the land. She also cultivated ginger, some vegetables and spices.
“I earned about Tk 75,000 by selling ginger, vegetables and spices in the second year,” she said.
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Photo: Star |
She then borrowed 60 decimal of land from her neighbours and grew vegetables and spices during the last two years. She earned about Tk 5 lakh by selling vegetables, spices, bananas and fruits.
“I purchased about 20 decimal of land and built a brick house with three rooms,” Morzina said.
Initially, she alone worked on her garden. Later, her husband and her daughters joined her. “As I didn't have to hire workers, I could reduce cost of production of the crops,” she explained.
Morzina received training on producing organic fertiliser at the homestead from the Department of Agriculture's Mithapukur extension in 2009. “After the training, I purchased two cows and started using cow dung to produce organic fertiliser.”
She said that in 2010 she sold organic fertiliser worth about Tk 15,000 and in 2011, worth Tk 25,000. This year she expects to earn about Tk 30,000 from organic fertiliser.
During the training she also learnt how to cultivate crops without using insecticide and chemical fertilisers.
“I never use pesticide and inorganic fertilisers. Therefore, I can sell my crops at high prices,” she said.
She does not need to go to the markets to sell her products. Rather the buyers come to her house.
Morzina said that when she began she had nothing but sincerity, hard labour and dedication.
She constantly regrets that she could not afford to send her daughters to school during the hard times, but is hopeful that they have learnt from her experiences.
By Mehedy Hasan