A highly educated young man from Rajshahi, Imam Hasan Sagar, has started commercial cultivation of grapes by breaking his betel nut tree. He has achieved incredible success.
He has cultivated the 'Baiknur' variety of grapes on two bighas of land. This entrepreneur dreams of earning several lakh taka annually from the garden.
As each tree in the garden yields abundantly, it has now become the main attraction for visitors.
In addition, many are collecting seedlings to grow their own gardens. Agricultural officials believe that if this foreign fruit cultivation expands, the country's dependence on imports will decrease. Economic prosperity will come. It is learned that the successful entrepreneur Imam Hasan Sagar is a resident of Hasnipur village in Bagmara upazila of the district. He completed his B.Sc. in electrical and electronics engineering. But instead of chasing a job, he broke his betel nut tree and started a grape garden there. He has planted about 360 trees on his two bighas of land.
The trees are only 9 to 10 months old. Each grape tree in his garden bears about 15 to 20 kg of grapes. He hopes to sell them for lakhs of taka.
Since it is a foreign fruit, visitors regularly flock to see this garden.
A visitor named Sabuj said, "What I used to see on YouTube or Facebook, I can now see in my own area, which is actually like a dream and unimaginable." Seeing this project, many are thinking of taking such an initiative themselves. Sagar said, these seedlings of Baikanur and Ekloy varieties have already been tested in Bangladesh. The perfect time to plant the trees is from April to June. They are great to eat when they are slightly sour. If you can arrange a polynet set house, it is possible to keep these grapes all year round.
A few days ago, we got about 50 bunches of grapes from one tree. Even if we get half a kg, it is about 25 kg. If I get 20 kg, 360 trees yield about 7200 kg or more than 7 tons. If we sell it at Tk 300 per kg in the market, we can sell it for over Tk 2 million.
Papia Rahman, Additional Deputy Director (Horticulture) of the Rajshahi Department of Agricultural Extension, said that if the cultivation of this sweet grape can be increased in the country, it is possible to meet the country's demand by reducing dependence on imports from abroad.
