Md Abu Hanif, 62, a migrant worker who came home from Bahrain, learned dragon fruit farming from YouTube and grew it on the roof and in the yard of his house in Chandpur. After feeding his family, he now makes more than Tk 1 lakh a year from sales, and locals call him 'Dragon Hanif', Prothom Alo's Matlab correspondent Muhammad Zakir Hossain reports.
Hanif is from Ludhua village in Matlab Uttar upazila. After passing his HSC in 1982 he opened a tailoring shop, then left for Bahrain in 1987 when it did not pay. He returned in 2012 and tried a goods distribution business without much success, and built a one-storey house beside the road at Moddho Kaladi in Matlab Dakshin upazila.
In 2024, guided by YouTube, he planted an improved dragon fruit variety on the 1,400 square foot roof and on six and a half decimals of the yard. In the first year he made more than Tk 50,000 after costs, and more than Tk 1 lakh in each of 2025 and 2026. The plants fruit three times a year.
He uses organic manure and some chemical fertiliser but sprays no pesticide, he said. His fruit sells well locally and in neighbouring upazilas. With low costs and good returns, this season he leased 60 more decimals at Poilpara, putting 40 under dragon fruit and the rest under grapes, papaya and banana. His elder son helps in the garden. 'I started the garden as a hobby. Now it earns money and the household is better off. I will grow it on a bigger scale,' he said.
Matlab Dakshin upazila agriculture officer Chaitanya Pal said Hanif had built his small dragon fruit kingdom on the roof and in the yard single-handedly, defying his age, and was an example to others. The agriculture office will give him full advice, he said.
Photo: Abu Sayeed / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
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