Mohammad Sohel, a young farm entrepreneur in Bhuapur, Tangail, sees promise in passion fruit, the exotic fruit known in Bangladesh as anarkali or tang fruit. He began a trial planting on a small patch of his courtyard in Brahmanhata east para of Bhuapur municipality, and the vines are now hung with fruit of all sizes.

Alongside his studies and other work he tends the garden himself, and he has started raising new seedlings beside the rows of vines. The fruit feeds his family and is sold locally.

Sohel says he began out of interest in growing something new. Good yields from a small space have him planning a commercial expansion; with enough land, advice and support from the agriculture department, he wants to build a larger orchard.

Bhuapur upazila agriculture officer Md Mokhlesur Rahman said new fruits such as passion fruit could open new possibilities in Bhuapur. The department has visited the garden and will try to provide advice, training and support to expand cultivation. Several neighbours, having seen it, want to plant vines of their own.

Source: NewsG24