A tiny village Tikryia and its inhabitant Rustam Ali are now almost synonymous when it comes to strawberryfarming.

How Ali has earned such reputation is a story encouraging to others. His tireless endeavour and dedication made him a successful grower of the fruit.

Hailing from Tengrakhana village of Kochua upazila under Bagerhat district, Ali came to Tikryia of Srimongol in Moulvibazar district last year to try his fortune there after getting a piece of land of only 180 decimals on lease.

"Nursery has been my hobby since early life. A television programme in 2008 has encouraged me to go for strawberry farming and I started gathering knowledge from

whatever the source I found accessible,” Ali flashed back.

Before cultivation of strawberry on his small piece of land in August 2009, he came across an expert at a conference in Dhaka in June in that year, which was organised by Bangladesh Strawberry Association. The paper presented by Dr Monjur Hussain, the strawberry expert and a professor at Rajshahi University, showed Ali the way, he went on.

In a span of hardly five months, Ali succeeded as a grower. More than 200 kilograms of strawberry he has already sold out at Tk 850 a kg in the local market, and also in Dhaka.

Ali, a graduate, now eyes a large-scale farming. However, he seeks support from the government's agriculture department in this regard.

Tikryia's soil suited his cultiva-

tion. So was the climate, as strawberry was tolerant to tropical weather. Ali, who invested around Tk 13 lakh in his strawberry farm, collected 15 thousand saplings from Dr Monjur Hussain of Rajshahi University, innovator of the RB-3 variety.

Although Rustam Ali is upbeat on strawberry's future prospect, he points his finger at a problem now haunts him. He said a virus has damaged at least lOpercent output ofhisfarm.

A total of six persons are working in his farm.

Ali said if the agriculture department extends support to growers, it is possible for the country to fetch foreign exchange from strawberry exports. He has a plan to expand strawberry farming to other areas through motivation.