Delwar Hossain's orchard in Panchgaon village of Bashtail union in Mirzapur upazila, Tangail, grows malta, guava, jujube (kul), wood apple, pomelo, lemon, papaya and Darjeeling oranges alongside China oranges. Delwar dreams of earning Tk 3 to 4 lakh a year from China oranges.

His China oranges have fruited well this year. Of the 100 China orange trees in the orchard, 64 are bearing, each with 20–30 kg of fruit, which he is selling at Tk 150 a kg. Many people are coming from different places to see the orchard, and some say they are keen to become entrepreneurs themselves.

Delwar Hossain is the son of Gias Uddin of Panchgaon village. After graduating he began working at a buying house in Dhaka and also set up a development company. In 2015 both businesses ran into losses. He returned home and started an orchard by planting guava trees on family land. Now he has found success with China oranges.

He started the orchard in 2015 with 100 guava saplings. In October 2018 he named it Dilu Agro Farm and planted his first 85 malta trees. The orchard now has 800 green malta and 300 yellow malta trees. For two years he has been selling malta, guava, papaya, mango, amra, cherries and Bau kul.

In phases, on about 600 decimals of land, Delwar has planted 4,000 guava, 1,100 malta, 600 lemon, 300 banana, 350 papaya, 260 year-round mango, 100 Darjeeling orange, 100 China orange, 40 year-round amra, 30 latkan, 25 wood apple, 20 pomelo, 140 Kashmiri kul and Bansundari, 8 pomegranate and 6 cherry trees, as well as Bau kul, apple kul and rambutan.

He brought rambutan saplings from Thailand in 2019 and avocado saplings and seeds from Malaysia in 2020. He also turned to this business after visiting orchards in Singapore, China, Vietnam, India and Cambodia.

At this time of year every tree in the orchard carries yellow-green China oranges, with guavas hanging too and the odd Darjeeling orange. Traders are buying China oranges at Tk 150, Darjeeling oranges at Tk 170 and guava at Tk 45 a kg. In the past two years he has sold Tk 22 lakh of fruit, making a profit of Tk 5 lakh after all costs. At present he meets the orchard's upkeep costs from guava sales.

Delwar uses the bagging method for guava. With proper care using organic and chemical fertiliser, granular poison and pesticides, the trees bear fruit. He collects saplings from Natore, Dinajpur and Jhenaidah, paying Tk 75 to 250 each. Four labourers work in the orchard regularly and several more work irregularly. The local agriculture office is also helping him.

"I started the orchard with guava, but later became interested in malta, China oranges and Darjeeling oranges," Delwar said. "I was worried about the quality of the soil, but our soil is quite suitable and the fruit is very sweet. I'm now selling China oranges and guava. I wasn't sure whether green malta would be sweet, but people come, taste the malta and buy lots. Last year I also sold poison-free mangoes."

"So far about Tk 17 lakh has gone into buying saplings and building up the full orchard," he said. "Using modern technology brings costs down. I use pipes for watering and weed with a machine. I've laid pipes underground to supply water to the orchard."

Local residents Ali Akbar, Abdul Halim, Alamgir Hossain and Farhad Mia said people now come from far away to buy fruit. Delwar has become self-reliant, others earn a living working in the orchard, and ordinary buyers benefit from poison-free fruit.

Siraj Mia from Deohata and Rafiq Mia from Mirzapur, who came to buy guava, said they have long bought guava from the orchard and are now taking China oranges. The China oranges are not like oranges from China or other countries, they said, but are very sweet and tasty.

Mirzapur Upazila Agriculture Officer Sanjoy Kumar Pal said Delwar Hossain grows BARI-1 malta, Bau kul, banana, lemon and Darjeeling oranges, along with Thai-10, Thai-7 and Thai-5 guava and other fruit. Through a demonstration on 3 acres, the agriculture department is giving him fertiliser, saplings, medicines, a spray machine and other support.

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