Boon of orange on plain land

Dear readers, a few days back I went to Chapatola in Jhenidah’s Maheshpur upazila. For the past few months, I had plans to visit this place and there was a special reason to do so. I want to bring in front of you a fruit farmer who has done remarkably well. His name is Rafiqul Islam, who has cultivated orange on plain land for the first time, to the best of my knowledge. Seven years back, I featured orange cultivation from Moulvibazar’s Juri upazila. A man named Anwar did the cultivation on the hills. As far as I know, Rafiqul is the first to cultivate orange on the plain land. Rafiqul is a very active person and he has been contacting me to visit his orchard for some years. And, he’s an avid viewer of my programme, Hridoye Mati O Manush. Finally, I could make it happen. Rafiqul collected the orange saplings from abroad. Today, you’ll get to know the amazing orange orchard of Rafiqul. He is cultivating some other crops as well. He has cultivated maize on four bigha of land.     

I reached Chapatola, starting from Jashore at 4:00am. Rafiqul was waiting for me. He was so glad to see me. We went straight to his orchard. Oranges could be seen from a far distance.

“It’s so good to see you,” said Rafiqul hugging me.

“Look at your wonderful orchard,” I replied.

“I have been waiting for you for a long time,” he said.

“I’m sorry, but finally I could manage it Rafiqul,” I replied entering his orchard.        

Ripe oranges are all over. Colourful and large enough with deep green leaves. At times I felt the oranges are even more than the leaves. I could barely believe my eyes.

“How big is your orchard?”

“Five bigha (2.002 acres),”

“How many orange trees are here?”

“About 140.”

“Do you have malta?”

“Yes, there are 500 malta trees.”

“What about this one,” I asked Rafiqul touching another variety of orange.

“This is Darjeeling orange,” he replied.

“I also have Mandarin orange,” he added with a smile on his face.

Rafiqul requested me to pick an orange from his tree.

“I waited for this moment for a long time; it’s a dream come true for me,” Rafiqul said. 

I picked one orange from his tree. I tasted and tell you what, it was so juicy and sweet. I really felt proud of Rafiqul who has done a tremendous job in producing orange on a plain land with such quality. In this great occasion, I was remembering Reboti Sikder, who did a fantastic job back in 2016 by producing sweet maltas in Pirojpur’s Dakatia. Rafiqul is researching with different varieties of oranges here. And most of his experiments went successful. Mandarin variety is comparatively smaller and has a reddish shade. This variety was produced at a great extent, says Rafiqul.

Bangladesh has been producing various types of fruits. We, however, spend a lot of foreign currency to buy apples and oranges every year. Rafiqul believes within two to three years, Bangladesh would be able to stop importing oranges.  

“Our Honourable Prime Minister is very much a farmer-friendly person. If she looks into this matter, we’ll definitely shine more,” Rafiqul hopes. He also mentioned, if this orchard comes into notice of the Agriculture Minister, things will definitely go even bigger for an even better future. 

The story of Rafiqul of turning into an orange farmer from a nursery owner is truly amazing. 

“Actually, I was a nursery owner. After watching Reboti Sikder’s malta success on Hridoye Mati O Manush, I thought I need to become a successful farmer, not just a nursery owner,” Rafiqul said.

After seeing the programme, Rafiqul wanted to have a malta garden of his own. He started off with guava. So far, he has sold guava worth Tk 10 lakh (USD 11,775). When he went to Darjeeling, he saw many orange trees in high and low lands with huge production. He collected 200 saplings from there. He came back and planted those.

In the meantime, he did some malta and those were giving him good produce. But, looking at the oranges after a couple of months of planting, he became really hopeful.

“However, people told me that growing oranges here is an insane initiative. I only kept on working hard and kept my focus on my work,” said Rafiqul.    

“But as you can see now, the result is much satisfying and hopeful. I believed that I could also grow foreign varieties of oranges here,” added the confident orchard owner.

“Have the traders made any dealing?” I asked.

“They proposed Tk 120 (USD 1.41) per kg. My asking price is Tk 130 (USD 1.53).”

“How many kilograms you expect from one tree,” I asked again.

“50 kilogram minimum,” he replied.

“That’s good, will the production increase in future?” I asked.

“I am expecting a double production next season,” replied the positive farmer.

“That’s very impressive,” I replied.

As the orange trees will grow more in coming years, it will give more fruits. Moreover, regular pruning would also help in increase of production, which will lead to a double production in the next season, Rafiqul said.

“I am very happy that the local agriculture officers have always supported me,” he said.

All over, Rafiqul’s production cost is Tk 50,000 (USD 588.75).  

“How many kilograms of oranges do you expect?”

“4,000, and Tk 5,200 (USD 61.23) for every 40 kilograms.

“So, for 4,000 kilograms you’re expecting to get Tk 5,20,000 (USD 6,123.02) while expenditure in only Tk 50,000?”

“Yes.”

“That’s just great!”

Do we have any idea how much orange we import every year?

According to a survey of Chattogram customs, in the fiscal year 2017- 2018, 1,17,170 tonnes of orange and malta have been imported. Each tonne worth Tk 93,000 (USD 1,095.08). It means in total the expense is approximately Tk 1,090 crore (USD 128 million). In the previous fiscal year, 1,02,100 tonnes of orange and malta were imported.

Within a decade, Bangladesh can become self-dependent in producing oranges and he’s extremely hopeful that Bangladesh would be able to export oranges very soon if farmers get the support at the right time, , Rafiqul said. Rafiqul has also produced 30,000 mandarin orange saplings and selling those to other farmers. The one-foot tall sapling costs Tk 150 (USD 1.76) while the two-feet costs Tk 200 (USD 2.35).   

Rafiqul’s garden is now a dreamland for all the young entrepreneurs of the country. I also met the Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer (SAAO) Rabiul Kabir Pallab and discussed about Rafiqul’s orchard.

“As a marginal farmer, he has taken a great risk and built up the garden. We could not imagine this much success in orange cultivation,” SAAO Rabiul said.

“How can you help further?” I asked.

“We’re always beside the farmers and we’re going to help them with advanced technologies,” replied Rabiul.

“We have already advised Rafiqul to make his soil more fertile,” added Rabiul.

Dear readers, I wish to see Bangladeshi farmers go to the field and make abundant success. And, Rafiqul is just the perfect example of it. He not only wants to meet the demand of local consumption but also looking keenly forward to export. I truly hope and want that the dream of this dedicated, spirited and successful farmer gets fulfilled.