Hazrat Ali, a hero of the soil

It was the first week of March 2020, and the coronavirus wasn't detected in Bangladesh at that time. The first Covid-19 infected patient was confirmed on March 8, 2020. After a few days, someone called me saying, 'My name is Hazrat, I would like to talk to you for a minute.' I still remember his voice. The sharp and confident voice with a local dialect represented the voice of the soil. I talked with him for an hour or so. I listened to his story with much contemplation and the story of the young man named Hazrat Ali Akand, amazed me. He was crying when he was sharing his journey to agricultural success. Hazrat started from zero and came to farm 832 varieties of fruits on 775 bighas (256.19 acres) of land and was requesting me to visit his farm in Sherpur.

Dear readers, today, I will tell you the incredible story of Hazrat, a hero of the soil.

I told Hazrat, after the Covid-19 situation gets better, I will visit his place. I finally met Hazrat in August, this year. The story of Hazrat's life is like a story of a film. He was born in a poor family at Kuturakanda village in Sherpur. He spent most of his childhood either starving or half fed. He worked at other's farms and used to get one meal a day. 'I couldn't continue my school after second grade as my father didn't have any the ability to meet my educational expenses', said Hazrat. His uncle told him to go to the capital and he thought Dhaka would be his final destination if he had to survive. He took a shirt and pant from his father and moved to Dhaka. The new war of survival started for Hazrat. Job in a grocery store in Jatrabari didn't go well for him. After seven months, he lost his job. He tried to work at a garments factory. That didn't go well for him as well. He used to sleep wherever he could. To survive, he started to sell fruits as a street vendor. He rented a shop to sell fruit. Another relative lent him Tk 20,000 (USD 233.39) to buy fruits for his shop. 'I will never be able to repay her debt,' said Hazrat about his relative. He dreamed of turning around in the city with a new hope. He managed the shop, cooked his food. There was no money to rent a place to stay. His business started expanding while he built another grocery store. Then he started a wholesale business of grocery products. He now has a large storehouse for grocery products. Moreover, he has 25 trucks to send the grocery goods across the country. 'I watched many of your programmes on YouTube and ran to the place, where there was a sign of hope', said Hazrat. 'I have built different orchards of fruits by watching your inspiring videos on social media,' added Hazrat. I was listening to Hazrat very attentively at his home in Sherpur. He was crying as well as smiling while narrating his story. I was also getting equally reminiscent of his stories.

Hazrat then took me to his 12 orchards, one after the other, built on about 775 bighas of land in four unions of Sherpur. First I went to his malta orchard in Rouha union, an overwhelming one, indeed. In the middle of the orchard, he was cultivating grapes and passion fruits, as well. Hazrat's farm in the four unions include 137 bighas (45.28 acres) in Jangaldi, 168 bighas (55.53 acres) in Raghunathpur, 153 bighas (50.57 acres) in Badshala and 317 bighas (104.79) in Rouha union. These are almost all the mixed-fruit orchards. He also has nursery and fish farm. He has an organic fertilizer business, poultry and dairy, and livestock farms. High-value fruits are abundant including malta, papaya, orange, lemon, guava at his orchards. Hazrat has a plan to build a family farm in the future as he saw in one of my programmes on underwood family farm in the USA. Hazrat says, he has 283 varieties of fruits at his orchards. He also pays close attention to the preservation of mother plants and fruit tree saplings. Hazrat says he has 19,000 malta trees in his orchard. On average, 80 kg malta from each tree will allow him to achieve the annual trade of about Tk 14 crore (USD 16,334,906) from the orchard. Sitting in his orchard, located at Rouha village in Sherpur Sadar upazila, I was getting surprised after listening to the incredible tales of Hazrat's success. 

The larger the scope, the greater his dream. Every initiative is taken in a planned method. There are emotions. But there are also goose bumping commercial agricultural success around the country. With the expansion of the orchard, Hazrat has been making various fruit tree saplings. He also has a well-arranged business plan for rooftop farming. He understands very well that the rooftop farming initiative is spreading. He has primarily started his rooftop initiative in the orchard. Hazrat is a very extraordinary young man. But his understanding is very clear. He did not rush to compose his success but worked silently and efficiently. Success is in his hands now. He remains the same man, the same ordinary farmer who became a hero of the soil. Many people have been inspired by Hazrat to move into the farming profession and they have earned success and moving onward with new agricultural ventures. Hazrat is a successful person to the elders of his family, too. He is now in everyone's place of pride.

Hazrat has proved that money is not the last word in life. He has returned to the soil and crops not only for financial gain but also for life. I believe the power of humans will let us see innumerable examples like Hazrat Ali Akand.