Young entrepreneur Hazrat Ali has built a farm on about 775 bighas in four blocks in Sherpur Sadar. As the son of a marginal farmer, he had to overcome many hardships to get where he is today.

As a child he did not get three meals a day and had to take to the streets for work, as a pavement hawker, a garment worker and in other labour-intensive jobs. A small grocery shop changed his fortunes within a few years, and he is now a big wholesaler in the grocery market at Dholpur, Jatrabari, in Dhaka. In his home district he has built a vast farm.

The farm covers 137 bighas at Jongoldi, 167 at Raghunathpur, 153 at Badshala and 317 at Rouha, all mixed fruit orchards. Their layout and landscaping resemble family farms in Europe and America. There are also a nursery, fish farming, organic fertiliser, poultry, dairy and livestock. Hazrat says the media drew him into farming.

He dreams of going far in agriculture, and many people have joined him on the way, finding new hope in their own lives.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.