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Mixed fruit orchard ushers in new hope in Sapahar farmers


Published : 12 Mar 2021 09:07 PM

Bordering Sapahar upazila of Naogaon has already gained a reputation across the country as an agriculturally dependent area. In continuation of this, several people of the area have got success by creating mixed fruit orchards taking lease of other's land. 

One of them is Sakhawat Habib, a young entrepreneur from Futkail village in the upazila. At least a hundred families of the area are spending their days happily working as day laborers in Shakhawat’s mango and plum orchards. Not just Sakhawat, hundreds of such farmers have become self-sufficient by cultivating mixed orchards in the upazila.

Visiting his orchard, it was seen that there were four feet high plum trees in between the rows of mango trees. Bunches of beautiful plums were hanging on the branches of these trees while, mango trees were full of new buds. The ripe plums looked a lot like reddish-green apples. 

This is the first time plums have grown in the orchard and half the plums have already been sold. Every day 100 mounds of plums are being picked from his orchard. This time he will hopefully earn around crores by selling plums. He sold mangoes worth Tk 25 lakh from this mixed fruit orchard during the mango season last year.

By planting mixed fruits, Shakhawat has surprised all people of the area with his success. Many people come from far and wide every day to see his farm. Many takes advice from him to start their own mixed orchards. 

His huge mixed orchard is located four kilometers away from the Upazila Sadar, next to the village of Futkail in Shiranti Union. The garden, which was set up two years ago on 112 Bighas of land, has mango trees of Amropali, Arshina, BARI-4 and Gaurmati varieties. In between the mango trees there are Balsundari, Kashmiri Apple, Baby Kul, Seedless and Thaikul varieties of plum. Of the total 11,700 plum trees, most are of Balshundari varieties. 

It was seen that, 10-12 workers being divided into different groups were plucking ripe plums from the trees in the huge orchard. People are coming from different parts of the country including Rajshahi and Pabna to buy fresh plums from the garden.

Sakhawat said he leased 112 Bighas of land for 12 years in 2019 at Tk 20,000 per Bigha of land. In the same year, 12,800 mango trees of different species were planted on the land. 

Sapahar Upazila Agriculture Officer visited the orchard in February last year and advised him to plant improved plum trees in between the gaps of the rows of mango trees. 

As per his advice, he collected 11,700 plum saplings from Chuadanga’s Jibannagar and Chapainawabganj and planted them in the orchard in May last year. He has spent about Tk 15 lakh to cultivate plum.

He added that in 2007 he leased a mango orchard of 12 Bigha for three years in Nirmail area of Patnitala for Tk 1.1 lakh. He took care of the orchard and sold mangoes from the orchard the following year, earning Tk 4 lakh. With that profit, he leased another 20 Bighas of land in Nirmail area for 12 years on a Tk 12 thousand per Bigha contract and established a mango orchard there. Since then, his capital has been increasing every year. 

Mixed farming is more profitable than other crops. Mixed gardens do not require much care. After planting the trees first and preparing the land, there is no need to do any hard work except applying pesticides and taking minimal care, he added.

Sapahar Upazila Agriculture Officer Mojibur Rahman said he advised Sakhawat Habib to cultivate plums in his mango orchard so that he could make more profit. Many farmers like Sakhawat are coming to them for advice on setting up mixed orchards. Besides mango, plum cultivation is increasing in the upazila every year, he added.