From 13 cattle to 45 cattle and 52 buffalo in a decade; the buffalo alone would fetch about Tk 1.25 crore

An entrepreneur from Ramchandrapur village in Kaharole upazila, Dinajpur, finished a master's in economics in 2007 and started work at a private organisation in Dhaka. The organisation worked on self-employment for marginal people, and travelling across districts he saw successful farmers at work and learned modern livestock management. He could not settle in the job, so in 2016 he started a farm with just 13 local cattle on 50 decimals of land. Out of the farm's income he later bought another 57 decimals. The 107-decimal farm now has three adjoining sheds of 240 by 90 feet, two newer sheds and a warehouse. It holds 45 local and foreign-breed cattle and 52 Indian crossbred buffalo, and 10 to 15 people work regularly on monthly pay or daily wages. Each animal is fed 12 to 22 kg a day of straw, bran, oil cake, Napier grass, natural grass and silage. The warehouse always holds two to two and a half months of feed, and he grows Napier grass himself on about eight bigha. He buys animals relatively cheaply from the north, including Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Rajshahi's city market, fattens them, and sells to local traders every three months. By his estimate one buffalo sells for at least Tk 70,000 to Tk 1 lakh, and the buffalo alone would fetch at least Tk 1.25 crore. The upazila agriculture officer says this is the only buffalo farm in the upazila and that he has been trained and advised from the start on feeding, vaccination and care.