Siddique's sour plum orchard, a unique success
After the spread of the coronavirus across the globe and recent economic downturn amid the climate change, food crisis is still a threat to the world.
In such a difficult situation, we will have to keep in mind that our country didn't face food scarcity in recent years due to relentless efforts from the farmers.
The farming endeavours have never stopped on this soil, rather new horizons of prospects are exploring in the sector.
We have fertile soil, innovative technology and working minds. We have turned the farming sector into a more commercial sector by producing varieties of crops.
The crop diversity has helped us a lot to move forward.
Farmer Siddique Hossain of Indarjani village in Tangail's Sakhipur upazila has written a different story by commercially cultivating local variety of sour plum on 27.66 acres (81 bighas) of land.
The environment of the orchard, established about 15-years-ago, is so peaceful and calm. It is like a large green landscape, where many male and female labourers are working with sincerity.
"I first started with only 200 plants and now I have 4,000 small and large sour plum trees here," said Siddique, who doesn't only think about the production.
"Farmers are heroes of our nation and they should be respected everywhere," he said.
It is quite amazing to see Siddique's orchard, where every tree is booming with sour plums.
This season, Siddique hopes to earn about Tk 1 crore (USD 95,000) by selling the plums.
Siddique's success didn't come in a day as he had to fought hard against all the odds.
He faced all the obstacles with courage, passion and belief to became a self-sufficient man. "After failing to go abroad, I tried to cultivate some high-yield variety crops but couldn't succeed. Then I started the sour plums orchard and it changed my life dramatically," Siddique said.
After years of struggles, Siddique has overcome the poverty, but never forgot his past.
"I turned around with patience, belief and hard work, when it was seemed there was no way back," said Siddique.
The labourers are also quite happy to work there.
"It is an ideal orchard and the owner treats us pretty well," one of the woman labourers said.
Siddique believes that science and technology will increase the production, but to get the fair price government's policy cooperation is necessary.
Gearing up the pace of production is significant, but it is also important to keep the soil healthy, said Siddique.
The working hands of the woman farm labourers reminds me of the speedy development of Bangladesh.
Dear readers, Siddique is one of the key agro-entrepreneurs of the country. The agricultural economy is created by such energetic entrepreneurs like him.
Not only that, their achievement is also success of the country. We have to remember that today's success has to sustain. Countless young entrepreneurs are now venturing into agriculture.
Last year, it was witnessed that fair price of various agricultural products wasn't ensured.
Small and marginal farmers often suffer loss at the beginning of fruit season, which is a negative image for the agriculture sector.
This is why we need to keep the farmers in our future food security plans, give them the necessary technologies and ensure fair price of their produce.
I believe, there will be more successful farmers like Siddique who will keep us showing the right way.
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