Mosharraf Hossain (34) of Shibganj in Chapainawabganj has succeeded in growing Saudi Arabian dates after learning from YouTube. He made the decision after losing money in the mango business. His date orchard now covers more than about 10 bighas, and this year he hopes to sell Tk 15 lakh worth of dates.

Mosharraf Hossain, son of Insan Ali of Mirzapur village in Daypukuria union, started the orchard in 2019 by planting 1,300 trees. His orchard now has about 5,000 trees. Local people mocked him at first, but for the past two years they have been amazed by the yield. At least 10 varieties of dates hang in his orchard, including Ajwa, Mariam, Dabas, Barhi and Chegi.

"We grow mangoes," Mosharraf Hossain said. "After losing money for several years, we reduced our reliance on mangoes and thought about growing other fruit. From that, watching YouTube, I became interested in growing Saudi Arabian dates. As my family did not help, I started by leasing about 2 bighas of land. Seeing the date harvest over two years, local people are now encouraging me too. People are coming from far away to buy saplings."

Mosharraf's brother Shamsul Alam said: "We mocked Mosharraf for leaving the mango business to plant a date orchard. Now I see he did the right thing. We did not leave the mango business and are still counting losses. This year again he will sell Tk 15-17 lakh worth of dates. I come to see his orchard now and then. I like it very much."

Local resident Golom Azam said: "At first I did not take Mosharraf's date orchard seriously. Last year I suddenly saw at least 10 varieties of dates hanging in bunches. Hurt by us, he did not sell a single date last year; he fed the villagers instead. Mosharraf has shown that Saudi dates can be grown in the soil of Mirzapur too."

Atik Hasan had come from the district town to buy saplings. "I saw dates from Mosharraf's orchard on social media and liked them a lot," he said. "So last year I bought a kilogram of dates for Tk 1,500. They tasted very good, so this time I have come to buy saplings."

Asked about it, Shibganj upazila agriculture officer Shariful Islam said the upazila has mostly mango orchards, but Mosharraf Hossain thought differently after watching YouTube and is profiting from it. Besides being profitable, Saudi dates suffer less from disease and pest attacks. Saudi date farming has raised prospects for the district's Barind region, which is short of water, he said. The agriculture department always stands by Mosharraf.

Reported by Sohan Mahmud.

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