He once went to 22 countries in search of a living, working at various times for the railway, as a house painter, as a day labourer and as a businessman abroad. Every stage of his life was a struggle full of uncertainty. Today the same man has written a remarkable success story growing papaya in Babuganj, Barishal. He has not only become self-reliant but is inspiring thousands of young people to become farm entrepreneurs.

Abu Bakar Siddique Sumon, of Baylakhali village in Chandpasha union of Babuganj upazila, has built a crore-taka business over the past five years selling papaya and papaya seedlings commercially. He has also set up the "Delowara Agro Training Centre", where he has given hands-on training to young people, students, the unemployed and retired people from different districts, producing more than 2,000 agricultural entrepreneurs so far.

Poverty forced Sumon to leave school in 1977, while in class nine, and take a job with the railway. When that job ended four years later, he went to Beirut, Lebanon, in 1981 hoping to change his fortunes. But because of the war he had to come home 17 months later, after passing through Syria and Palestine. In Fakirapool, Dhaka, he got by working sometimes as a painter and sometimes as a day labourer.

In 1986 he saw a newspaper advertisement and got a job as a painter in Kuwait. Over a long working life he travelled to 22 countries. In 1993 he started work as a painter for a Hyundai company in South Africa. Alongside his job, he became interested in papaya after seeing commercial papaya farms in Zimbabwe and Malawi. He later started a business in South Africa and trained in papaya growing there.

Fate brought him back to zero again. In 2014 a robbery at his business abroad caused him heavy financial losses. He came home and started a business in Dhaka, but lost everything in another robbery there. When his wife developed kidney disease he was forced to return to his village home in Babuganj. After she died in 2021 he went through a hard time, facing both financial trouble and loneliness.

In 2021, when he sought a loan for fish farming, the then senior upazila fisheries officer of Babuganj, Saiduzzaman, advised him to grow papaya alongside the fish. He received Tk 50,000 in support from a government project. He failed at first, but later brought quality seed from Gazipur and began raising seedlings himself. Using the techniques he learned in South Africa, he built a modern papaya orchard on his own fallow land.

He now has about 1,250 mature papaya trees on 1 acre 48 decimals of land and along the banks of three fish enclosures (gher). He grows the Shahi, Kashmiri and Top Lady varieties. Each tree yields an average of four to five maunds of fruit, and his orchard has produced papayas weighing up to five kilograms.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Barishal, over the past five years Sumon has sold about Tk 60 lakh worth of raw and ripe papaya and Tk 1.6 crore worth of papaya seedlings, making a profit of about Tk 60 lakh. Last season alone he sold about Tk 15 lakh of papaya, and this season he expects to sell Tk 20 lakh to Tk 25 lakh worth of raw and ripe fruit. Since the start of this year he has also made a profit of about Tk 7 lakh from selling seedlings alone.

His seedling business has grown steadily. He started by selling 6,000 seedlings in 2023, which rose to 35,000 in 2024. In 2025 about 14 lakh seedlings were sold. Despite various setbacks, he produced and sold six lakh seedlings in 2026. Aiming to sell 20 lakh seedlings across the country next year, he has already built a modern poly house. He says he makes a profit of about Tk 5 per seedling after costs.

Alongside papaya, he grows companion crops such as sweet pumpkin, bottle gourd, snake gourd, sponge gourd, bitter gourd and yardlong beans on the banks of his fish enclosures. Growing vegetables on trellises by the ponds brings him several lakh taka more a year.

Abu Bakar Siddique Sumon told Jago News: "Agriculture can be one of the most effective ways to end unemployment in the country. Just a few trees can change the life of an unemployed student looking for a job."

"I want unemployed young people and students to take up farming as a profession," he said. "If a student plants just 25 improved papaya trees alongside their studies and cares for them properly, they can earn nearly one lakh taka in a single season. Instead of waiting for someone else's job, they should put the fallow land at home to use."

"I give papaya-growing training free of charge at my training centre," he added. "People come from different parts of the country, train and become successful entrepreneurs."

Sihab Uddin, a young man from Baylakhali, told Jago News: "Since Sumon bhai became successful, people are coming from different parts of the country to train with him. Many are growing papaya successfully with seedlings from him."

Mostafa Kamal, a teacher at Babuganj Degree College, told Jago News: "I grew improved seedlings from him and succeeded. Alongside teaching, it has become a new source of income for me."

Babuganj upazila agriculture officer Abdur Rouf told Jago News: "We have visited his orchard several times. He is a hard-working, enterprising agricultural entrepreneur who is helping farmers by producing quality papaya seedlings. His initiative is an example for others. If many farmers follow him into commercial papaya farming, the agriculture department will continue to give every kind of support."

Besides his business success, Sumon stands out for his social commitment. He gives papaya seedlings free to local mosques, madrasas and schools, encourages members of poor families to farm by giving them improved seedlings, and regularly supplies papaya from his orchard to a local orphanage.

In recognition of high yields from little land, he has received seven honours and awards at home and abroad, including an agricultural honour from Nepal, recognition from Dhaka University, and the Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa honours from India.

After a long struggle, by putting the experience he gained abroad to use at home, Abu Bakar Siddique Sumon has shown that when willpower, hard work and modern farming technology come together, even fallow land can make dreams come true.

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