Al Amin, a 28-year-old from Patkhaguri village in Habla union of Basail upazila, Tangail, built a pomegranate garden in drums on the roof of his house and turned it into a business selling grafted saplings. His story was reported in July 2026 by Jagonews24 and the local outlet News Tangail. The garden, started for his mother when she had cancer, kept growing after her death, and the saplings he grafted were going to rooftop gardens around the country. He is the son of Bazlur Rahman. Basail, an upazila of six unions, had a population of 188,936 in the 2022 census.
Pomegranates in drums, for his mother
Al Amin's mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2023, and doctors advised that she eat pomegranates regularly. He was working in a garment factory at the time. "The pomegranates in the market contain chemicals," he said. "At that time buying pomegranates cost Tk 500-600, which was hard for me." So he first planted a few saplings in a corner of the courtyard.
He had no plan for a rooftop garden at first. After watching YouTube videos on growing pomegranates on a roof, he bought a few small saplings in Tongi, Gazipur, and planted them in drums on the roof, which then had no stairs. When his mother's health got worse he quit his job; she died a week later, in May 2025. "I built the pomegranate garden for her," he said. "She was my inspiration."
Grafted saplings of 26 varieties
Al Amin told Jagonews24 that he had about 1,500 to 2,000 pomegranate saplings on the roof and on the ground, with the fruit-bearing trees kept on the roof. He was also growing grapes, oranges and malta there, and did the grafting himself. His collection ran to 26 varieties, among them Super Bhagwa and Mridula from Maharashtra in India, a Gujarati pomegranate, a Thai pomegranate, an Australian pomegranate and a Pakistani one. News Tangail reported that his saplings were priced from Tk 200 to Tk 2,000. He said he earned Tk 60,000 to 80,000 a month after expenses.
Muhammad Abu Elias Talukder, the sub-assistant agriculture officer in Basail upazila, told Jagonews24 that Al Amin was "a successful young entrepreneur" whose saplings were going to different parts of the country, and that the agriculture office had tried to advise him from time to time. A visitor, Habibullah Sheful, said he had not known pomegranates could grow so well on a roof, and a local resident, Mizanur Rahman, said he hoped to start a similar garden on his own roof.
The pomegranate and the Maharashtra varieties
The pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a shrub or small tree 1.5 to 5 metres tall, native to Iran and nearby regions, where it was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. It tolerates drought, but in wetter areas it can suffer root decay from fungal diseases. It can be propagated by layering, cuttings and tissue culture. India and China are the world's leading producers.
Mridula, one of the varieties in Al Amin's collection, was released in 1994 by Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth in Rahuri, Maharashtra; its arils are deep blood red, soft and sweet. The same university released Bhagwa in 2003 and Phule Bhagwa Super in 2013. A 2023 review in The Pharma Innovation Journal describes these varieties as suited to dry weather with low humidity. India's ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate says Super Bhagwa matures 15 to 20 days earlier than Bhagwa, with better size and colour, though in the centre's own trials it was not significantly different from Bhagwa.
The centre also cautions buyers of planting material: bacterial blight can lie hidden in the nodes of air layers and hardwood cuttings taken from affected orchards, so it advises checking that the nursery's mother plants are healthy and buying air layers two to three months old with good roots. It recommends taking a first crop three years after planting, or after two years if the plants are very vigorous.
Photo: TopuThakur / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sources: Jagonews24, News Tangail, ICAR-National Research Centre on Pomegranate (Solapur), The Pharma Innovation Journal, Wikipedia
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