Jahangir Hossain's Farm

About

Jahangir Hossain (33), of Thalta village in Nowhata municipality, Paba upazila, Rajshahi, worked for about nine years for the Bangladesh Flying Academy at Rajshahi airport, where a salary of Tk 15,000–16,000 barely kept the family going. In 2021 he quit and started farming with mint on just 10 katha of land. Five years on he farms 12 to 13 bigha, growing beetroot, mint, lettuce, iceberg lettuce, Thai leaf, cherry tomatoes, red cabbage, capsicum and bunching onions. Beetroot takes the most land, 10 bigha, and mint three bigha. He sows in stages rather than all at once so that something is always ready for market; by his reckoning a bigha of beetroot can bring in up to Tk 1.5 lakh in a good market against costs of Tk 70,000–75,000. He sends mint by bus to restaurants in Kushtia, Jashore, Khulna, Bogura, Rajshahi and Chapai Nawabganj and markets his produce himself. Five workers work on the farm every day, with more taken on when needed, and he works in the field alongside them. The Paba upazila agriculture office has advised him from the start, and local farmers say he was the first in the area to grow these crops.

Products and services

• Beetroot

  Grown on 10 bigha; the article gives the current wholesale market rate as Tk 40–50 per kg

• Mint

  Grown on three bigha; supplied to restaurants in several districts

• Lettuce and iceberg lettuce

• Thai leaf

• Cherry tomatoes

• Red cabbage

• Capsicum

• Bunching onion

Address and hours