From a Hobby to a 50-Acre Hill Orchard of Foreign Fruits in Mirsarai

On the hills of Mirsarai upazila in Chattogram, young agricultural entrepreneur Md Omar Sharif has built an orchard of local and foreign fruit trees covering about 50 acres. What began in 2003 as a hobby, with a few saplings, held nearly 50 kinds of fruit trees by June 2026. He named it Zohra Agro Farms and Nursery after his mother. Jagonews24 reported the story on 28 June 2026.

On the rolling slopes some trees were carrying fruit while others were coming into flower. According to the report, there is some fruit or other in the orchard in every month of the year.

On 20 June 2026 the Mirsarai Upazila Agriculture Office held a seasonal fruit fair. Omar Sharif displayed about 40 varieties of fruit from his orchard there and won a prize. Visitors were surprised to see so many fruits from a single orchard, the report said.

Mirsarai upazila agriculture officer Pratap Chandra Roy told Jagonews24: "Many local and foreign fruits are being produced in agricultural entrepreneur Omar Sharif's orchard. His whole mind is on the nursery and the orchard. He has built this orchard over nearly two decades. At this fair he displayed many varieties. The orchard has many rare fruit trees." He added that others were following his example and setting up orchards.

The start was hard. He had to walk about five kilometres from the plains to reach the land. "In 2003 I started the orchard in the hills as a hobby, planting saplings of a few varieties. Nobody used to go to that area. Gradually I built up an orchard of various fruit, spice and medicinal trees," Omar Sharif said.

"You cannot just bring saplings and plant them; each has its own way of being grown, and it took time to understand that. There were natural disasters too. Still, I did not give up. Success came only after I looked into the growing methods, studied them and put them into practice."

To collect saplings he travelled to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Malaysia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and India. "Collecting the world's newly developed fruits and saplings has become a passion. I then raise saplings from them and supply them across the country," he said. According to the report, many unemployed young men in the area set up orchards with his encouragement and help.

The Jagonews24 report listed these trees in the orchard:

• Mango: Chakapat, Kiujai, Banana, Ramgoi, BARI-4, Gourmoti, Amrapali, Katimon, Brunei King, Chiang Mai, Mariam, Coconut, Miyazaki, Ambika and JC varieties
• Foreign fruits: avocado, rambutan, longan, durian, pulasan, abiu, dragon fruit, peach, Thai sapodilla, Thai pomelo, Thai sweet lemon and Thai amloki
• Citrus: year-round malta, Chinese orange and Darjeeling orange
• Coconut and pineapple: Vietnamese coconut, Siam Green coconut and MB-2 pineapple
• Local fruits: China-3 lychee, jackfruit, latkan (Burmese grape), gab, amloki (Indian gooseberry), tamarind and cashew
• Spices: cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and clove

According to Banglapedia, Mirsarai is an upazila of Chattogram district covering 482.88 square kilometres, bordered by India's Tripura state to the north and the Bay of Bengal to the south. Its main river is the Feni, and its main fruits include mango, jackfruit, lychee, banana, papaya and pineapple. Mahamaya Lake and the Khoiyachora waterfall are among its best-known attractions.

The avocado is an evergreen tree of the laurel family, native to the Americas; good varieties are usually propagated by grafting. Avocado is new to Bangladesh but not confined to Mirsarai: according to the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), 80 avocado plants were given to farmers in Sapahar, Naogaon, in July 2020. Cardamom is a perennial of the ginger family, native to southern India, whose seeds inside the pod are used as a spice.

Farmers interested in growing foreign fruits, or in saplings and grafts, can seek advice from their upazila agriculture office.

Photo: B.navez / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Banglapedia, Wikipedia, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF)