Abdul Aziz distributing fruit saplings as Bangla New Year gift at his nursery at Shaliabaha village in Ghatail upazila. Photo: STAR Every Pahela Baishakh (Bangla New Year), a large number of people including women and children come to the house of Abdul Aziz for fruit saplings. He gives away those for free as his New Year gift. This year, on Monday, he distributed 20,000 fruit saplings from his nurseries at Shaliabaha village in Ghatail upazila in the district. These include 17,000 lemon saplings and 3,000 of Saudi date, grape and others. He also entertained all with panta bhat (wet rice) and early variety of jackfruits, produced at his orchard. He has more 10,000 saplings for distribution. Noted litterateur Dr Ashraf Siddiqui and prominent dramatist Mamunur Rashid, secretary of Peshajibi Samonnay Parishad Dr Kamrul Hassan Khan and poet Ferdous Salam along with their family members joined Pahela Baishakh celebrations at the orchard of Aziz. They also addressed a function, largely attended by people from far and near. Abdul Aziz said he distributed over 1 lakh fruit saplings including lemon, guava, banana, star fruit, Saudi date and mango among people including and educational institutions for free in last few years. Abdul Aziz, a former truck driver, introduces himself as 'Chasha (farmer) Abdul Aziz'. Local people call him 'Aziz Company'. One day, about 20 years ago, Aziz had bought a ripe mango from Sadarghat in Dhaka. He sliced it and was surprised. The mellow mango was not ripe inside and tasted sour. He later came to know that traders ripen fruits by using harmful chemicals. This small incident changed his life. He left truck driving and started raising banana garden on his five acres of land. He used organic fertiliser and gradually discarded harmful chemical fertilisers and DDT. Within years, many other farmers in nearby Muraid, Mohishmara, Singherchala and Dulalia villages in Ghatail followed him. Now, Aziz owns a big orchard of different fruits on 18 bighas of land. He produces different kinds of mango, jackfruit, pineapple, litchi, banana, lemon, olive, orange, coconut, black berry, karamcha (a kind of fruit), guava hog plum, safeda (a variety of apple), cherry and many other fruits in his gardens. Last year Aziz earned about Tk 7 lakh from his orchard and nursery. He has also planted over 1,500 palm trees around the orchards. These would give fruit and juice and also protect the plants from cyclone, Aziz told this correspondent during a visit on Monday. Aziz said insecticides and hormones worth about crore are sold annually at 32 insecticide shops in Ghatail upazila alone. This enormous amount, if spent to produce organic fertiliser, could doubly benefit us by increasing yield and protecting human health, soil and the environment, he said.