Retired govt official changes his fortune by cultivating banana in Magura

MAGURA, Nov 25: The story is about a retired government service holder who has turned his fortune wheel by cultivating banana. The name of this successful farmer is Md Mominuddin of village Norihati under Magura Sadar upazila.

Mominuddin is now 65 years old. He passed HSC in 1970. In 1974 he has got a government service and joined Mobarakganj Sugar Mills as a clerk. Till 1990 he was getting his salary smoothly. But after that time his salary became irregular. In 2000 his sufferings reached the extreme point. Finally in 2005 he willingly retired from the service with golden handshake.

Then he started banana farming in his own one bigha of land which he inherited from his father. In the first year he made profit of Tk 50,000. Then he was inspired and extended his banana cultivation on leased land. Within five years he was able to purchase one bigha land with profit from banana cultivation. After 2010 his earning from banana profit exceeded Tk 0.15 million.

Day by day he started to extend his own land purchasing from locals. Now he owns 2.5 acres land and he cultivates banana in his whole land.   Last year his total profit was Tk 0.25 million. This year he is expecting more profit as banana price is now high in the local market.

When contacted, Mominuddin said, I apply modern method in growing banana and always takes the advice of DAE officials. 

Banana price is increasing day by day. Ten years back we sold one pon (80) banana at Tk 50. Now we sell per pon banana at Tk 120 to 150. Moreover, we do not face exploitation of middlemen as the banana is collected from our field. We need not to go to market for selling our banana.        

When he was asked about his feelings in service life and farmer life, he told I got Tk 8,000 salary finally in my service life, but now my earning is Tk 20,000 per month on an average. I feel after completing education we need not to run after government service. If an educated youth is involved in farming in planned way he can be self employed and create employment opportunity for others.

Magura DAE Training Officer Shohrab Hossen said, "We are proud of success of Mominuddin. He now feels better compared to his government service life."

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