Pearl farming shines in Naogaon

Pearl farming is getting popular in Naogaon as a potentially lucrative business thanks to the efforts of a young entrepreneur.

Kabir Hossain, son of Rafiqul Islam, had decided to do something unique in his hometown which was known mostly for fish cultivation.

To this end, he began pearl farming in Jagdas village, a rural part in the Panchupur union of the Atrai upazila of the district, with assistance from the Upazila Fisheries Office.

Although designer pearl farming is a relatively new yet promising industry in Bangladesh, it is nonetheless, very popular in our neighbouring country India.

Kabir expects to make a profit of Tk 20 lakh by the year-end with an investment of only Tk 3 lakh.

According to the young entrepreneur, he used to work as a freelancer in Dhaka and after being forced to return home due to the pandemic, he learned about pearl farming on YouTube.

He later learned more about it from the local fisheries office and found initial success after experimentally farming pearl in his neighbour’s pond.

Afterwards, Kabir leased a pond for three years and started commercial pearl farming.

Pearl can be harvested from oysters once a year as such Kabir expects to harvest 15,000 designer pearls from the oysters planted in the pond.

“From purchasing designer nucleus to tending for the oysters for a year, it costs around Tk 3 lakh. I will make Tk 20 lakh after selling the pearls at the current market price,” said Kabir.

The young farmer buys nuclei in various designs at wholesale prices from India. He works on the oysters that were earlier planted in the pond, inserting two designs into each. After they have fully matured, pearls can be farmed in about a year.

Kabir exports most of the pearls to India as designer pearls are not much in demand in our country.

“An oyster’s nuclei can be replaced with two designer ones. I mostly use various flower designs and letters,” Kabir said.

Currently, there are seven young men working with Kabir on his farm. Many people in the area are leaning toward pearl cultivation being inspired by him. Kabir also helped them to build their own farms.

Not only that, the entrepreneur is travelling all over the country and arranging workshops about pearl farming. He helps build pearl farms to create employment for the youth.

Kabir has already held workshops in Chattogram, Kushtia, Gopalganj, Tangail, Bogura, Chapainawabganj, and Bagerhat with his team.

Kabir spends Tk 18,000 to build a farm of 500 oysters that can bear 1,000 pearls. According to him, farmers can earn Tk 1.5-2 lakh yearly from a farm of 1,000 oysters.

Upon visiting Kabir’s farm, empty plastic bottles were seen floating every three feet in the pond. The bottles mark the placement of the oyster containing plastic drums. Each drum contains 20 live oysters that have been operated on to place the designed nuclei.

The entrepreneur leased the half-acre pond for three years at a cost of Tk 1 lakh and cultivated 8,000 oysters with 15,000 nuclei of different designs.

Meanwhile, seeing Kabir’s success, 20 more unemployed youths of the village also began pearl farming. The village is becoming well known for pearl farming.

Abu Bashar and Manik, two entrepreneurs from Jagdas village, said Kabir’s success had attracted them to pearl farming. They have taken up a small project of pearl cultivation in hopes of becoming self-sufficient.

Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Palash Chandra Debnath said, “20 youths in the area including Kabir Hossain received training on pearl cultivation from the district fisheries office”.

A number of youths of the neighbouring Moniari Union have also received training and are now cultivating pearls.

According to the officer, pearl oysters can be farmed in ponds along with fish. As they get enough food naturally there is no additional cost of buying feed, making the business more profitable.

The officer also said that they are trying to create a pearl market in the country by holding various development fairs and exhibitions.

“The industry has immense potential. If demands rise, this could create employment for many youths in our country,” he added.

When inquired about his future plans, Kabir said he wants to open a company to design pearls and pearl-embellished jewellery in the future.

“I’m working towards my goal of seeing the designer pearl industry become a global market,” said Kabir Hossain.