By cultivating and selling fancy, ornamental plants like Succulents, Cacti and Adenium commercially, Pankaj Kumar Mohanta, a Post-graduate in Sociology of Satbaria village under Shilmaria union of Puthia upazila in Rajshahi, has turned into a successful entrepreneur.
Due to satisfactory demand and the price, Pankaj is earning more than Tk. 50,000 per year by selling those plants.
Pankaj has set up the farm of the plants on 30-decimal of his paternal land. He usually collects the saplings of the plants from India, Thailand and China through importers. Many unemployed youths in the area are also being inspired by the success of Pankaj and are coming forward to cultivate these fancy, ornamental plants on their own land.
Pankaj Kumar Mohanta said, 'By cultivating and selling the ornamental, fancy plants like Adenium, Cacti and Succulents commercially, I would like to create employment generations for the educated jobless youths. I also demand the correct direction and the government assistance to flourish this trade further.' He said, his trade is mainly online based.
By encircling an area with polythene sheets, Pankaj is cultivating more than 40,000 succulents, cacti and Adeniums of some 300 species on elevated wooden platforms or chowki. He has named his garden as ' Succulent Paradise'. Succulent is a special type of plant which stores water inside its leaves and branches. As a result, the leaves of the plant are thick and juicy. Succulent plants grow abundant in South Africa. As the ornamental, fancy plants inside the house or for making gardens, the demand and popularity of the plant is increasing, informed Pankaj.
Pankaj further informed, he has in his collection varieties of plants amounting from Tk 200 to Tk 15,000 per plant. The Succulent plant is, however, sold at Tk 250 to 1,050 per plant. The government patronisation and an easy-term loan would further increase the cultivation of such ornamental plants, he opined.
Pankaj bears an extra attention towards trees and plants from his boyhood. While studying in college, he could learn about Cacti and Succulents and started to collect saplings of those. He said, he has in his collection some 250 to 300 species of Succulents and 150 to 200 species of Cacti and he claimed that to his knowledge, his farm is the largest Succulents farm in Bangladesh.
He said many people from all over the country visit his garden and they purchase the plants directly from him. Moreover, there are satisfactory online sales of the plants as well.
