Iqbal Faruk (51) of Mirsarai upazila, Chattogram, started a nursery on 9 decimals of land in 2001 with just Tk 7,000 in capital. Many people discouraged him at first, but he pressed on through hard work, and so his success story began. Relying on hard work, dedication and honesty, he is now an established nursery businessman. He named his business Banarupa Nursery. His capital now stands at nearly Tk 1 crore, the nursery covers 2 acres, and he plans to expand onto another 3 acres in future.

Iqbal Faruk is the son of the late Mojibul Haque of Kismat Zafarabad village in Mirsarai Sadar union. After finishing his studies, instead of chasing a job, he chose the nursery business as his only source of income. He began with some timber and fruit saplings, and gradually expanded, collecting saplings and seeds of local and foreign varieties from different parts of the country. His success has made him a millionaire, and many unemployed young people in the area are being inspired to take up the trade.

"The nursery now covers 2 acres," Iqbal Faruk told Jago News. "There are about 150 kinds of fruit, timber and medicinal saplings. Besides various timber saplings, there are local and foreign varieties of mango, black plum, jackfruit, guava, pomegranate, orange, hog plum, custard apple, lemon, pomelo, sapodilla, malta, jujube, star fruit, sweet tamarind, elephant apple, lychee, wood apple and latkan."

He said the mango saplings include about 30 varieties, among them Haribhanga, Langra, Amrapali, Himsagar, Guti, Fazli, Gourmoti, Katimon, BARI-4, Banana Mango, Chiang Mai and Chakapat. The flowers include about a hundred species, among them Thai rose, tuberose, China crape jasmine, hasnahena, bakul, krishnachura, jasmine, gardenia, hibiscus, croton and casuarina, along with various medicinal plants. People come to buy saplings from Chattogram, Feni, Cumilla and Mirsarai, and from upazilas including Sitakunda, Fatikchhari, Ramgarh, Sonagazi and Chhagalnaiya.

"The nursery is my meditation and my knowledge, a part of my life," he said. "I started it in 2001 with only Tk 7,000 in capital, and I now have nearly Tk 1 crore. I also plan to set up a large nursery at another site. When I started, some people belittled me, but later many helped in various ways. From the nursery I have built a house costing Tk 60 lakh. Six or seven workers work at the nursery all year, and 22-25 in the season."

"Large organisations have bought saplings from my nursery," Iqbal Faruk said. "Last year Mahbub Rahman Ruhel, son of the local member of parliament Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, took 1 lakh 10 thousand saplings. Sales are very low this year. After the coronavirus, sales were good for a year, but this year they are down."

Hedayet Ullah Chowdhury, headmaster of Mazharul Haque Chowdhury High School, said: "Iqbal Faruk is a very hard-working and enterprising man. He has built a very large nursery from a small start, and I hope he will go further."

Upazila agriculture officer Raghunath Naha said: "A nursery is a profitable business. Many unemployed people have become self-reliant through nurseries, and the number of nurseries in Mirsarai upazila is growing day by day. We help those who come to us for support."

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