Zakir Azad, Cumilla

Lalmai Hills of Cumilla . Here he cultivates lemon, banana, papaya and kachumukhi on fallow land. He made profit of about Tk 35 lakh last year. He is Abul Kalam Azad.

The house is in Gandhamati village of Cumilla Sadar Dakshin Upazila. He has planted banana, lemon, malta, pineapple, mango, cassava, papaya and kachumukhi in Madinanagar area in Roopbanmura area of the hill.

Going to the hill, you can see the green mass of the hill and its slopes. Turn your eyes away from green.

A festival of activities is going on in the lonely hills. The calls of familiar and unfamiliar birds are floating in between. Some of the workers are picking lemons. The sunlight is melting between the leaves of the lemon.

The green lemon has turned golden. The sweet scent of lemon wafts through the garden. Someone is cutting bananas. Some people are busy drawing lots of pictures. The rhyme is being cleaned by hand.

Someone is checking whether the papaya is ripe or not. Some yellow ripe papayas have been eaten by birds. Abul Kalam Azad has 10 regular workers in his garden and land and another 15 during the harvest season. Farmer Abul Kalam Azad is not sitting either. He is working hard. Despite all the hard work, he has a smile of satisfaction on his face.

Farmer Abul Kalam Azad said, I was a distributor of some companies. It takes a lot of pressure. The family had some fallow land in the hills. First we cultivate lemon there. In the first year, I sold 5 lakh taka China Lemon-03. Later add Malta. I have sold 5 tons of Malta this year. I have been cultivating a lot of rhima for eight years. Newly planted dragon, cashew and coffee seedlings. I have benefited from my time in agriculture. Prosperity has come to my family.

Mohammad Mohsin Mizi, Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officer of Agricultural Information Service Cumilla said, "For the work of Agricultural Information Service Department, we have to go to the crop fields of different areas. Farmer Abul Kalam Azad started a green revolution in the fallow land of Lalmai Hills. He is providing fruit crops to the local market along with profiting himself. Locals are able to collect essential products at affordable prices.

Sadar Dakshin Upazila Agriculture Officer Habibul Bashar Chowdhury said that the government's aim is to promote commercial agriculture. Abul Kalam Azad is one such farmer. He didn't just fall into one crop.

He cultivated various crops including lemon, malta, pineapple, mango. He made a profit of around 35 lakh taka by selling agricultural products last year. His income will increase in the coming years. If other educated youths like him also come forward in agriculture, the country's economy will improve.