A story of changing lot by utilising barren land

PABNA, Dec 19: Farmer Billal Hossain, of Sadirajpur village in Bhangura upazila of the district has become self-reliant by utilising seven decimals of barren land. He grows vegetables and cultivates varieties of fish in a small pond.
Billal Hossain started farming on the land after taking a training from the local Youths Department. He said the department also gave him vegetable seeds and other inputs.
The Youths Department officials said Billal has set an example to other people in the area. He is now self-reliant by cultivating fish and vegetables. He also planted saplings of varies of fruit on the small piece of land.
In every three to five months, he makes a profit of Tk 40,000 from the sale of fish.
Billal Hossain said: "The idea of cultivating indigenous fish came to my mind when one day I bought formalin-treated fish from the market at a high rate. I started cultivating fish in 2004 on a pond of six decimals of land. It is a good source of my annual earning."
The farmer said he applies modern method for cultivation of fish in his 30-feet long, 10-feet wide and 7-feet deep pond. "Above the pond I set up bamboo planks where I cultivate organic vegetables in sacks and plastic containers. I also planted saplings of various trees", he said.
Billal grows brinjal, tomato, pumpkin and papaya in bags and plastic containers.
He has released fish fry of Koi, Shing, Magur in the pond. The investment was Tk 4,000 on account of purchasing fish fry and its feed in August, 2011. After a few months he had sold matured fish. He spent around Tk 0.3 million on setting up nursery.
He said his farm is popular in the area. A good number of people visit the farm everyday.

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