A father and son in Bheramara, Kushtia, Hazrat Ali and Rasel Hossain, have built a mixed fruit orchard that began on five bighas of land and now covers 70. Their fruit meets local demand and is sent to other parts of the country.
In 2014 they set up an orchard and nursery on farmland beside the bridge in the Fakirabad Awrer Beel field of Bheramara upazila, starting with a five-bigha guava garden. Today 30 bighas are planted with improved varieties of guava, malta, orange, dragon fruit, banana, grape, jujube, sapodilla, strawberry and lemon, among others.
To raise output they learned modern fruit growing, disease control, irrigation and fertiliser techniques from farming videos online and applied them in the orchard. With planned care, production rose steadily.
Hazrat Ali said that besides wholesalers, buyers come from far away to pick fruit at the orchard. Buyers get fresh fruit and, selling without middlemen, the family gets a fair price. Guava is now selling at Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,400 a maund.
Rasel Hossain said every tree is pruned regularly and given balanced fertiliser, managed irrigation and disease control. With favourable weather and this care, the guava yield this season is much higher than last year, and the large, sweet fruit is in good demand.
Md Robiul Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer in Bheramara, said the agriculture department is offering various kinds of support to draw young people into farming.
Reported by Krishi Shomoy's Kushtia correspondent.
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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