A strawberry field stretches across a vast sandbar of the Teesta river in Ulipur, Kurigram. In a mix of sandy and loam soil on the Teesta char, young entrepreneurs Abdur Razzak and Harunur Rashid surprised many by setting up what is described as the country's largest strawberry farm. Both are returnee migrants.

Their aim was to farm strawberries commercially on the char, create jobs and earn foreign currency while staying in the country. But because they could not get seedlings of the right variety, that dream is close to collapse, and they are on the verge of losing the roughly Tk 1.5 crore they invested.

A visit to the Teesta sandbar in Bazra union of the upazila found strawberries grown on 12 acres at a cost of about Tk 1.5 crore. The bare sandbar is covered in green, with red fruit in places. Using modern technology, the two entrepreneurs of a company called Asset Agro planted 350,000 seedlings of six varieties last November. The farm made a splash at first, but they are now in despair: there are about 350,000 plants, but with little fruit they are counting losses.

Young entrepreneur Abdur Razzak said: "I started strawberry farming with big dreams. The plan was to meet the district's demand for this foreign fruit and supply the capital and other regions. It sells retail at Tk 700-800 a kg. On the char, strawberry is far more profitable than potato, wheat or maize."

"Fruit starts coming 45 to 65 days after planting. The target was 10 tonnes an acre, but it could not be met. Because the seedlings were of poor quality, those hopes are dashed. Forget profit: after investing Tk 1.5 crore, we won't even be able to produce Tk 5 lakh worth of fruit," he said.

Char residents Abdul Mazid, Abdul Hamid and Minhaj Ali said the entrepreneurs first came to Satalaskar char in Bazra union and chose the land. Every day a number of char farmers worked on the strawberry field for a daily wage of Tk 500. The three of them started working there on a monthly salary of Tk 15,000 and tended the seedlings with high hopes, but with the expected yield not arriving on time, there are losses. Had strawberries been profitable this time, farming would have spread widely in the area, they said. They also claimed that the agriculture department's irresponsibility and a mistake in choosing seedlings caused the huge loss.

Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Kurigram, said: "A company named Asset Agro has grown strawberries on 12 acres of sandy land on the Teesta char at Bazra in Ulipur. We gave them technical support and advice through the upazila agriculture office. Strawberries are grown in the winter season, and Kurigram's weather is suitable for them. If they succeed, steps will be taken to expand strawberry farming across the district."

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