Md. Azim, son of Amir Hossain of Sreepur-Kharandwip union of the upazila, is a government employee by profession but gardening is his hobby.
When the government announced the general holiday last March, the young man tried to utilize the time instead of wasting it sitting at home like others.
Three months ago, Azim started growing papaya on abandoned 10 decimal land along the Kanungopara-Sreepur Bura Mosque road in Aklia mouza of Popadia union of the upazila.
Apart from papaw, he also planted various vegetables and varieties of lemon, banana, guava and mango in the garden.
Azim said that he planted hundreds of high yielding papaw saplings in the land.
He has harvested over one maund (around 38 kg) papaw from each tree.
And with these crops produced in his garden, he is meeting the needs of the family after selling them in local markets.
“I have also distributed other vegetables among the relatives and neighbors. There is a kind of satisfaction in it,” he said.
He said that with the help of the government, he would start papaya fields on a larger scale in the future.
Azim said that he is expecting that there will be 100 maunds, or 400 kg of papaws from his crop.
Having started with Tk 11,000 investment, he is now eying for Tk 1 lakh from papaw cultivation, said Azim, adding that there will also be income from other vegetables and fruits.
Shahadat, a resident of the area, said that though the educated youth Azim works in the government office, he is producing vegetables in the village. Seeing Azim's papaw cultivation, many people in the area are now showing interest in cultivating papaw on arable land.
Upazila Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officer Durgapad Dev said there are no problems in the papaw orchard except spiders and fungi attacks. If weather remains favourable, it is possible to make profit by cultivating nutritious papaw.