Scoring great with the Avocados

Ansar Ali became one of the country's first commercial avocados in 2006, setting up a brand new revenue route for peasants across the nation.

Avocados

The exotic fruit had become a favorite among the health-conscious in the city, botanically a berry, and had earlier been accessible only through exports. As they are extremely nutritious and have heart healthy compounds, avocados pack a kick.

The egg-shaped green-skinned fruit develops on big plants and is embedded in a big berry. The single seed, recognized as a box or rock, matures after growing in each of these berries.

Ansar, a 50-year-old farmer, created a title for himself in the village of Buzruk Shorka under Bogura's Shibganj upazila for his attempts to grow rather costly vegetables from abroad.

Other plants such as asparagus, sweet corn, broccoli, milk corn, lettuce, broccoli, orange tomatoes, beetroot, yellow lettuce, Thai basil, six capsicum types, Thai ginger, Thai garlic, and Chinese cabbage are grown on 25-30 bigha of soil.

"We receive Tk 10 to 12 lakh annually in revenues," said Mili Begum, his daughter-in-law. The 37-year-old is helping him out on the ground and knowing the ins and outs of his business.

In Banani, Gulshan and Kawran Bazaar, Ali undertakes a six-hour voyage to the city itself to sell its products to sellers.

He discovered about the avocado during one such journey.

In 2000, Manik Mia, a fruit seller in Dhaka, carried away the fruit and attempted to graft it. He built on his estate two saplings on a patch of vacant land close a pond.

The two trees matured and bore the fruit for the first time in 2006, much to his delight. Ali now has a total of 25 forests.

"Ten plants weighed about 255 kg of avocados last year, which I marketed for more than Tk 1 lakh," he said.

He has already collected 90 kilograms from five forests this year and marketed them on August 29 for Tk 35,000 to his frequent suppliers in Dhaka.

"This apple allows a grower to yield small investment yields every year," Ali said.

Ali mainly grows winter crops, leaving him for the rest of the year relatively free. In March, once a year, the avocado plants carry blossoms and can be grown around August.

The hard-working farmer in Bangladesh is now a role model for his colleagues.

"I bought almost 15 bighas of property from my revenues."

He was even given the Best Agro Entrepreneur of the year at the 2010 Citi Micro Entrepreneurship Award on September 17, 2011, and he was given the prize by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and then Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman.

Abdur Rahim (Horticulture), Deputy Director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Bogura, said, "Ansar Ali was the first to successfully grow this plant in this region. I toured his sector three years earlier and also carried three saplings home to the organization for study reasons.

"Due to its nutritional importance, the demand for avocados in Bangladesh is growing day by day. If farmers can produce seedlings through grafting, it won't take forever to bear fruit.""Due to its nutritional importance, Bangladesh's demand for avocados is growing day by day. It won't hold forever to bear fruit if breeders can create seedlings through grafting."

Saifur Rahman, Chapainawabganj Horticulture Center's assistant manager, said, "The plant has 34 percent monounsaturated fats that are useful to the core. Saturated fat lowers poor cholesterol and triglycerides and raises good cholesterol levels.