Success and failure stories

3,000 taka at the start, 1.5 lakh ornamental fish and 50,000 a month now

Started at home during COVID with 3,000 taka and some auto-breeding fish; a 45-shotok pond sold after five months at a large profit, and 3 ponds and 18 tanks now bring 45,000-50,000 taka a month.

Capital

৳3k

Ran for

5 months

Two pairs of pigeons kept for pleasure, now 700 birds and 70,000-80,000 a month

A 5,000-taka stationery shop in class nine, two pairs of pigeons bought for pleasure in 2014: now about 700 birds of 20 breeds worth 8-9 lakh taka, and 70,000-80,000 taka a month from the birds and two shops.

Capital

৳5k

Started in 2014

One and a half to two lakh a bigha, but no one to sell it to

Aloe vera started on 12 shotok in Shajahanpur took about three years to come into production. A bigha now gives 250 maund at 5-25 taka a kg, worth 1.5-2 lakh a year, but no factory in the country buys from the growers directly.

Ran for

36 months

From a two-shotok homestead to 15 lakh taka of medicinal plants a year

He had no cultivable land; he started with kalomegh around the house in 2007. Four bighas and a 10,000-sapling nursery now sell about 15 lakh taka a year, netting about 3 lakh - 25,000 taka a month.

Started in 2007

10-12 lakh from one malta season, and 15-20 lakh more from saplings

Nine bighas leased in Charghat in 2019, now 16: malta nets 10-12 lakh taka in a season and saplings bring 15-20 lakh more a year, all sold at the garden at 200 taka a kg.

Started in 2019

Two cows at the start, 1,500 litres of milk a day now

Started in 1994 with two cows bought for 1.5 lakh taka; the farm now holds 215 cattle, produces about 1,500 litres a day and sells at the gate at 80 taka a litre.

Capital

৳1.5 lakh

Started in 1994

Two lakh a year on a bigha, and even one lakh of leaf is hard to sell

Building a one-bigha boroj costs about 1 lakh taka and another lakh a year to keep, but small leaf sells at 10-25 taka a bira and growers say 35 is where the cost is covered.

Capital

৳1 lakh

An official 18.50 a kilo, 12-15 from the factory, and a garden torn out after 20 lakh of losses

A 7-bigha tea garden in Boda, Panchagarh, paid for three or four years and then lost about 20 lakh taka: the fixed green-leaf price is 18.50 a kg, but factories paid 12-15 and cut a further 20-30 percent on top.

Short of mulberry leaf, the cocoon crop falls from 25-30 kg to 15-20

Thirty women in Barhar village have reared silkworms since 2004. A cycle that once gave 25-30 kg of cocoons now gives 15-20 for want of mulberry leaf, and the board buys at 350 and 400 taka a kg.

Started in 2004

29,000 taka a bigha to grow, and no offer above 2,000 a maund

A bigha of jute in Rajbari costs about 29,000 taka to grow and yields 8-10 maund, while even the best fibre fetches 2,400 taka a maund: roughly 5,000 taka of loss per bigha.

6,000 taka of profit on 40 shotok of wheat, and more land this season

This Fatikchhari farmer cleared about 6,000 taka from wheat on 40 shotok last year and is taking more land this season; the upazila's wheat area is going from 25 hectares to 40.

Two storms in one day and night, and the maize is flat on the ground

A squall with hail on Saturday morning and a second in the middle of that night laid the maize flat in Thakurgaon; the farmer says the season's capital went with it.