Half a kilo of fry in a Tk 500 leased pond grew into an award-winning hatchery

As a teenager, this hatchery owner in Gouripur upazila, Mymensingh, supported his family by catching fish in the beel. Later, for several years, he went from village to village catching fish from other people's ponds for them, and then sold fry by bicycle.

According to a Prothom Alo report, when the family could not make ends meet, one day he leased a derelict pond full of water hyacinth next to his home for one year for Tk 500. He cleaned it, released just 500 grams of fry and started the business. When he had saved some money he traded fry on a larger scale, and alongside that bought fish from the villages and sold them in Mymensingh town by bicycle. Hearing that a pond in Bahadurpur village was for sale, he bought it on condition of paying in several instalments, and in 2005 he set up his own hatchery there.

Now 20 to 22 workers work regularly at his hatchery, and he himself works 12 to 14 hours a day there. In recognition of his fry production, he received the national fisheries award in 2023. The report does not give figures for his income or investment.