The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Narail

Lichi cultivation has brought smile on the faces of farmers at 15 villages in Narail district.

This year they sold lichis of about Taka 5 crore from 500 orchards, which have changed their fortune, according to farmers and agriculture officials.

"Nowadays, a farmer earns Tk 70,000 to 80,000 by growing lichis on one bigha land, while paddy or jute brought only Taka 10,000 to 12,000 earlier", Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Md. Fifatul Hossain told BSS.

The 500 gardens cover about 650 acres of land, he said.

During the visit, BSS Correspondent saw most of the farmers at the 15 villages---Pankabila, Uzirpur, Simakhali, Laskarpur, Bizoypur, Kurigram, Masumdia, Singasholpur, Kashipur, Basgram, Mamlapur, South Narail, Arenda, Per Mollikpur and Maizpara---are now very busy with harvesting lichees. According to the farmers, being failure to achieve good output in paddy or jute cultivation for years, most of them have engaged themselves in lichis cultivation.

Success of lichis-growers at those villages is now a topic of discussion for many people and officials in Narail and adjoining districts. Agriculture and horticulture officials often visit the lichis orchards and encourage others to follow the example. Farmers in the areas always remain busy with nursing their orchards.

The farmers earlier had been passing hard time due to frequent crop failure. Fortune smiled on them after they met high officials of the horticulture department.

Inspired by agriculture and horticulture Departments in 1995, Kamruzzaman Khan Tuhin and 25 other farmers of Pankabila under Sadar upazila in the district planted lichis trees on about 35 bighas of land at the village.

They could not imagine that some day this would bring fortune. "In the current year, I earned about Taka 1.5 lakh from lichis cultivation but the total cost was only Taka 30,000," Tuhin said. Their success inspired others at nearby villages and they also raised lichis orchards on their lands instead of cultivating jute or paddy. Lichis cultivation needs small investment but the return is big. Now is the peak harvesting season and traders from Dhaka, Manikganj, Barisal, Gopalganj come to the area to buy lichis every day, farmers said.