Muhammad Rashid, officer-in-charge (OC) of Guimara police station in the hill district of Khagrachhari, is growing vegetables on fallow land in the station yard. Alongside his professional duties he tends the vegetable garden with his own hands, helped by other members of the station. Besides vegetables, he has also set up a fruit orchard on about five acres of hilly, forested land.

A recent visit to the Guimara police station compound found bottle gourds of various sizes hanging from trellises. Among the green leaves hung beans, yardlong beans, ridge gourd, green chillies, aubergines, cucumbers, kalmi greens and other vegetables. Red amaranth stood out amid the green, along with tomatoes and local coriander, while sweet pumpkins announced themselves in yellow.

Constable Md Atikur Rahman, who looks after the vegetables regularly, said: "In my free time between duties I tend the vegetable and fruit garden. It is extra work, but we all do it enthusiastically. The soil here is fertile, and a little care gives a good yield."

Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Shaheda Akter said standing in front of the garden made her feel she was at home. "We all enjoy the taste of picking bottle gourd, greens and pumpkin from the field with our own hands," she said.

Guimara police station OC Muhammad Rashid told Jago News: "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared that not even an inch of land should be left empty or fallow. Following this declaration and the instruction of the Khagrachhari superintendent of police, within a month of joining I started growing chemical-free vegetables on the empty land in the station yard. It now meets 50 percent of the vegetable needs of the police officers working at the station. Work is also under way to set up an orchard of at least 35 varieties of fruit across the station compound."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.