Tk 32 lakh spent on a malta-orange orchard; Tk 22 lakh of fruit sold in the first harvest, then a Tk 10 lakh flood loss

A man from Pekua, Cox's Bazar, spent about 13 years in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, then came home. He could not settle in a cosmetics shop, rented CNG autorickshaws or a papaya orchard; a banana crop earned him about Tk 8 lakh but the next season's yield fell. In 2023 he leased four acres near home and began a mixed-fruit orchard. It now has 1,400 guava, 780 BARI-1 malta, 20 year-round malta, 250 pomelo and 250 Darjeeling orange trees. He has no formal farm training; he learns from YouTube and asks agriculture officers when problems arise. Leasing, land development, saplings, labour, irrigation, fertiliser, fencing and packing materials cost about Tk 32 lakh over two years. The first harvest brought Tk 22 lakh of fruit sales in the local market. This year's July flood and hill runoff left the orchard under water for six straight days, shedding about 35,000 guavas and 10,000 maltas and killing at least 700 trees, a loss of around Tk 10 lakh. He still hopes to sell about Tk 17 lakh of fruit this season. Malta sells at Tk 120-150 a kg and guava at Tk 80-100. The upazila agriculture officer notes that growing many fruits lets one price fall be offset by another.