Sureshwar Mallik is a sharecropper in Dumuria, Khulna district. He bought Tk 30 of spinach seed and grew it on leased land, then sold the crop for Tk 45,000. Locals are amazed at his success.

Through tireless effort, this once very poor farmer is becoming self-reliant by growing crops on other people's land taken on lease. Once, all he had was his homestead, and a few years ago he still supported his family by working as a day labourer on others' land. Now he has built his own brick house and has also received the Bangabandhu National Agriculture Award.

Sureshwar Mallik is a farmer from Gobindakathi village in Atlia union of Dumuria upazila. He began farming on a plot of fallow land (50 decimals) beside his home, taken on lease, and has not looked back since, amazing the area with the crops he grows there.

Mallik leased the land for a year, paying the owner Tk 25,000 a year. He sowed only Tk 30 of spinach seed on it, and 45 days after sowing he sold the whole field of spinach to local wholesalers for Tk 45,000.

In 2017 he received the Bangabandhu National Agriculture Award as an agricultural entrepreneur and sharecropper. Following his example, many in the upazila are dreaming of becoming self-reliant.

"I used to work on other people's land. Now I lease other people's land and farm it. I employ poor, unemployed women from the area in my fields so that they can earn something," Sureshwar Mallik said. He told UNB that the income came within 45 days, and that he would be able to grow more crops and earn more in the rest of the year.

Dumuria upazila sub-assistant agriculture officer Md Iktiar Hossain said this is profitable farming. Growing spinach costs almost nothing: after sowing, the crop must be watered properly for a few days and kept free of weeds. Many in the area follow him, he said.

Md Imran Hossain Morol, a farmer from the same area, said many people there are becoming interested in farming after seeing him. "Sureshwar has no land of his own. He leased other people's land and received an award from the prime minister's hands. He is a farmer many of us follow."

Dumuria upazila agriculture officer Md Nazrul Islam said they advise farmers on how to earn more from a small plot without using pesticides. "Sureshwar is a sharecropper. At first he used chemical fertiliser on his land. On our advice he now uses organic fertiliser (vermicompost). We have set up a farmer field school (a training centre for local farmers) at his home." Many farmers in the upazila are succeeding under the close supervision of the upazila agriculture office, and Sureshwar is one of them, he said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.