Grass gives Gaibandha\\\'s Gafur fortune

Barely a decade ago, Gaibandha’s Abdul Gafur worked as a day labourer and lived from hand to mouth. But the commercial production of grass changed it all. Gafur became a millionaire in a matter of a few years. His success inspired several other farmers of Palashbarhi Upazila to follow in his footsteps. Gafur, 50, first learned about the high-yielding Napier Grass after he bought a cow in 2005. Talking to this correspondent, he said local livestock doctor Mostofa Kamal inspired him to cultivate Napier widely used as fodder. Napier can grow very fast but needs little water. The district livestock officer Abul Hashem said Gafur was the only person here to commercially cultivate the grass, which was an ideal food for livestock and was in high demand. Gafur initially cultivated Napier on a small scale but its success made him confident enough to use more land. He now owns 10 bighas (1 bigha= 14,400 sq ft) of land and other properties in Sultanpur Baroipara village with an estimated value of over Tk 15 million. He currently cultivates Napier Grass commercially on his 10-bigha plot and earns about Tk 90,000 monthly. The production cost is a mere Tk 20,000, he says. Two of his sons and five employees assist him in selling the grass daily. Over 50 other farmers in his village have turned to the grass for a livelihood, according to bdnews24.com.