Zahid Chakladar dreamed not only of becoming an entrepreneur himself but of bringing city people into farming, so that each could be a mango or fruit grower while living in town. In 2012 he leased land in Ratar village, Ranisankail upazila, Thakurgaon, and started a mango orchard, then got many people interested in investing in it.

A dozen years later, it has grown. Alongside mango, various fruits are produced year-round, and there is a livestock farm, making a 75-bigha integrated farm. The programme had featured his unusual venture before.

This season, mango is grown on 45 bighas of the farm, mostly Amrapali, Haribhanga and BARI-4. This year he has involved 200 people in 280 plots, with shares from 5 decimals to one acre each.

It is now the height of the mango season, and fruit is harvested regularly. The fresh, pure mangoes will reach the city-based hobby growers. Zahid Chakladar says the mangoes are produced entirely by natural methods.

He says that as natural disasters increase with climate change, the risks of producing mango and other crops are rising, along with production costs.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Krishi Dibanishi. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.