From sharecropping and rickshaw pulling to Tk 25,000 a month from medicinal plants; Tk 15 lakh of plants sold a year

A 56-year-old farmer from Kettarpara village, Mohadipur union, Palashbari upazila, Gaibandha, had no land beyond the two decimals of homestead he inherited. He sharecropped other people's land for rice and jute and sometimes pulled a rickshaw when the household could not manage. In 2007, on the agriculture department's advice, he planted kalomegh, basak, arjun and tulsi around his house. He then sharecropped one bigha for basak, arjun and tulsi, which paid well, and later took three more bigha; he has given up rice and now grows medicinal plants on four bigha. He makes his own compost for the fields. In his yard is a nursery with 10,000 medicinal saplings, and a collection point beside his house sells leaves, branches and saplings. Large pharmaceutical companies buy the leaves and branches, and he sends saplings beyond Gaibandha to Rangpur, Rajshahi, Sirajganj, Chattogram and Dinajpur. By his figures he sells about Tk 15 lakh worth of saplings and plants a year, leaving about Tk 3 lakh a year after labour and other costs, or Tk 25,000 a month. He plans to farm eight bigha next year. Around 30 farmers in the village have followed his example; one grows basak, tulsi and arjun on one bigha and earns an extra Tk 5,000 a month. According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, kalomegh costs about Tk 15,000 per bigha, yields 20 to 22 maund and sells at Tk 2,400 per maund.