Mokarram Hossain of Rangiyarpota village in Chuadanga district has become successful in commercial cultivation of pomegranate. Due to the favorable weather this season, a large quantity of pomegranate fruit has come to his orchard. Seeing his success, many educated unemployed youths have become interested in cultivating pomegranate. The new entrepreneurs are also taking various suggestions from Mokarram Hossain about the cultivation of pomegranate.
Hundreds of tons of vitamin-rich pomegranate are imported from China, India, Nepal, South Africa and other countries to meet Bangladesh's demand. However, this time, Mokarram Hossain, an agri-entrepreneur from Rangiyarpota village in Chuadanga, cultivated this foreign fruit on five bighas of land three years ago. The whole orchard has already been filled with fruit. Commercial sale of pomegranate fruits from the orchard will also start soon.
Earlier, Mokarram Hossain had been trying to cultivate different fruits for several years. But again and again he failed. Later, on the advice of someone, he succeeded in cultivating foreign fruits. In order to meet the demand of this fruit in the country, pomegranate firm was established on a commercial basis.
Mokarram Hossain said he first became interested in cultivating this fruit after watching pomegranate cultivation on YouTube. He approached an agricultural farm in India to cultivate the fruit. He later started this orchard with their advice. Three years ago, SCT planted 800 Bhagua trees on five bighas of land. One month before planting the seedlings, he dug a hole at a distance of 6 feet in the land and 12 feet space between each line. Inside the hole of one foot depth, 30 kg of manure (organic manure), 500 g of lime and 2 kg of earthworm manure (vermi compost) made the land suitable for planting. In its first year, it has cost about Tk one lakh per bigha including purchase of saplings, land preparation and maintenance. Two years after planting the saplings start flowering. It takes 4 months from flower to fruit full.
He said pomegranate can be collected 2-3 times a year from pomegranate trees. 50 kg of fruit can be obtained from each tree twice. In the meantime, 600 pomegranate trees have brought a lot of fruits in the garden this year. At present it is being sold at Tk 200 to Tk 250 per kg. If all goes well, he hopes to be able to sell this time for around Tk 25 lakh. Earlier last year, he had sold an anar worth Tk 5 lakh.
He added that Mokarram Hossain's Greenvista Soiltech and Agro Farm is jointly cultivating the land with India's soil-based Soil Charger Technology. That's why Harsal, a senior consultant at Soil Charger Technology, has taken a good look at the pomegranate garden. According to him, it was very difficult to cultivate pomegranate with the soil condition and climate of Bangladesh. It took a lot of speed to make that difficult task easier.
Going to the village of Rangiarpota, it can be seen that the trees in Mokarram Hossain's garden are decorated with different sizes of pomegranate. Fruits are hanging in bunches on the branches of the tree in the garden. Hundreds of people from different parts of the country are flocking to the garden every day to see the garden.
Majedur Rahman, who works in the garden, said that most of the people in the village are involved in agricultural work. Many people now have the opportunity to work in the garden as it is the garden of pomegranate. They are making a living from the money earned from here.
Ali Hasan, Deputy Director, Department of Agriculture, Chuadanga, said, "We have cooperated with him in cultivating this fruit." It will be possible to earn a lot of foreign exchange even after meeting the demand in the country if the local rich and middle class farmers go ahead with the cultivation.
This is the first cultivation in our area. Due to the success of Mokarram Hossain Anar cultivation, there is a possibility of commercial pomegranate cultivation in Chuadanga region. I hope seeing the success of Mokarram Hossain will inspire the people of the area to cultivate more. We are giving our full support to take this success forward in the future. If the entrepreneurs of the commercial orchard are successful, the dependence on fruit imports in the country will decrease. At the same time, the purchase price will be within the reach of the consumer.