Abdur Rahman, a college student from Ektarpur village in Abhaynagar upazila, Jashore, is culturing pearls in mussels kept in an artificial tank on the roof of his house. The tank holds about 2,000 mussels, and a pond at his sister's home in Nauli village holds another 3,500. Several unemployed young people in the area have followed his lead, Krishi Shomoy reports.
Rahman took up the idea in 2021, during the Covid period, after seeing it on Facebook. To learn the craft he visited pearl farms in Naogaon, Mymensingh, Chandpur and Jhenaidah, then started a trial with a few mussels in a small pond beside the house that November. Once it worked, he ran short of space and turned to the roof.
A nucleus, or die, is inserted into each mussel by a special process and the pearl forms around it; changing the die changes the shape and design of the pearl. A pearl usually takes 10 to 12 months to mature. He also keeps ornamental fish in the rooftop tank.
Depending on quality and design, his pearls sell for up to Tk 600 each, to jewellers and design firms around the country. By his account, producing and selling Tk 200,000 worth of pearls cost him Tk 30,000 to 40,000. His father and four or five workers collect mussels, make nuclei, carve designs and make nets, and are paid by output.
Rahman wants to expand with government and institutional financial and technical support, and hopes to export one day. Abhaynagar upazila fisheries officer Lipton Sardar said producing pearls from mussels on a rooftop is unusual, and with proper training, technical help and a market, such ventures could create new jobs for unemployed young people.
Reported by Krishi Shomoy's Jashore correspondent.
Photo (illustrative): mussels reared in a pond. Photo: Robert Ervin Coker / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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