Lemon cultivation changes Faruque's destiny
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Our Correspondent
GOPALGONJ June 8: The profit in lemon cultivation changed the destiny of Faruque Ahmed Mollah (48), an HSC completed farmer of Gobra village under Sadar Upazila in Gopalganj district. Faruque become self-reliant by farming lemon on a large scale on his land.
Faruque passed his HSC in 1980. He then tried his hand at business but failed miserably. In 1994, he cleared a piece of land next to their house and planted 40 lemon saplings. Soon he planted some more on higher ground as experiment. The experiment was a success and he sold a lot of lemon.
In 2006, officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) visited Faruque's lemon plantation. The DAE officials encouraged him and assured all cooperation for his endeavours. In the same year he added three more acres of adjoining high land to his plantation.
Currently, Faruque earns a profit of around Tk 0.18 million every year by selling his lemon crop. Today, he is the most successful lemon farmer in Gopalganj district. In 2007, Faruque got the National Award for Agriculture in Gopalganj.
"It was a memorable event of my life," a very happy Faruque told this correspondent. "Also, my name was printed in the newspapers as a model farmer."
Faruque supplies lemon to Dhaka, Khulna, Gopalganj and other districts.
About 1,400 lemon plants can be grown in one acre of land and each plant bears 1,000 to 1,200 lemons every season, he said. He believes the country could earn a huge amount of foreign currency by exporting lemon to Europe, America, Australia, Japan and the Middle East.
GOPALGONJ June 8: The profit in lemon cultivation changed the destiny of Faruque Ahmed Mollah (48), an HSC completed farmer of Gobra village under Sadar Upazila in Gopalganj district. Faruque become self-reliant by farming lemon on a large scale on his land.
Faruque passed his HSC in 1980. He then tried his hand at business but failed miserably. In 1994, he cleared a piece of land next to their house and planted 40 lemon saplings. Soon he planted some more on higher ground as experiment. The experiment was a success and he sold a lot of lemon.
In 2006, officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) visited Faruque's lemon plantation. The DAE officials encouraged him and assured all cooperation for his endeavours. In the same year he added three more acres of adjoining high land to his plantation.
Currently, Faruque earns a profit of around Tk 0.18 million every year by selling his lemon crop. Today, he is the most successful lemon farmer in Gopalganj district. In 2007, Faruque got the National Award for Agriculture in Gopalganj.
"It was a memorable event of my life," a very happy Faruque told this correspondent. "Also, my name was printed in the newspapers as a model farmer."
Faruque supplies lemon to Dhaka, Khulna, Gopalganj and other districts.
About 1,400 lemon plants can be grown in one acre of land and each plant bears 1,000 to 1,200 lemons every season, he said. He believes the country could earn a huge amount of foreign currency by exporting lemon to Europe, America, Australia, Japan and the Middle East.