Shamim (Kurigram)
Correspondent:
Md. Abu Raihan Faruque dreams
of becoming self-reliant by cultivating China basket oranges in Kurigram. He is
the son of Kazi Md. Habibur Rahman of Belgacha Union of Kurigram Sadar Upazila.
At present, there are more than hundred orange trees in two bigha of land.
Oranges are hanging on the trees in bunches. Oranges started coming from the
trees only one and a half years after planting. The current age of his garden
is two and a half years. He is starting commercial farming this year. After
just 20 days, he expects to sell about 15-20 maunds of oranges from the garden
which is about 80 thousand taka at the current market price of oranges. As a
result, he said, the profit will be doubled excluding the production cost.
It can be seen on the surface;
Abu Raihan Faruque finished his studies and bought the agricultural sector for
self-employment. He started integrated fruit cultivation on his father's land.
There are various types of native and foreign fruit trees on his father's land.
He also started orange cultivation in addition to mango, malta, grape
cultivation. First he collected a china basket orange tree from Bogra city. He
planted 100 orange trees on two bigha land using the grafting method from one
tree. He started getting oranges from the grafted seedlings within one and a
half years. Now he is dreaming of commercial orange cultivation. There is no
additional hassle. Timely use of organic fertilizers, insecticides and
fungicide sprays can give good yield from orange trees.
Abu Raihan Faruque said,
"I am not living the path of self-employment in agriculture without
running for a job. In addition to orange cultivation, there are various fruit
trees in the garden. However, because the market demand for oranges is good,
the interest in orange cultivation has increased. I have more than a hundred
orange trees of the China basket orange variety in my two bigha land. It is a
sweet variety of oranges. It is very healthy. The age of the present garden is
two and a half years. I have spent 20,000 rupees since the beginning. I hope
that this year the profit will be double by selling oranges.
He also said that we have to
import oranges from different countries to meet the needs of the people of our
country. If commercial cultivation of oranges can be done within the country,
then it will be possible to export to foreign countries besides meeting the
demand.
Mohammad Kabir Hossain, who
came to see the orange garden, said that he liked seeing Faruque's orange garden
very much. It is possible to earn good income if you focus on agriculture
instead of running after job. I have also decided to start an orange garden.
But if the agriculture department stands by then the orange farmers will
benefit more.
Biplab Kumar Mohant, Deputy Director of Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department, said that orange cultivation is a new potential cultivation in the district. No target has been set so far for orange cultivation. However, he said that there will be all kinds of cooperation from the agriculture department in Faruque's orange garden.
