A ‘mini Sundarbans’ in house yard
Anyone can find at least 10 species of mangrove trees, including Sundari, Goran, Keora, Golpata and Tiger Fern in the yard of Syed Mohammed Mainul Anwar
When Bangladesh is losing forestlands in a steady way, it is obviously impressive that a Chattogram city resident plants mangrove trees in his house yard.
Anyone can find at least 10 species of mangrove trees, including Sundari, Goran, Keora, Golpata and Tiger Fern in the yard of Syed Mohammed Mainul Anwar.
During a visit to the Mainul's homestead, some beehives were also seen on the branches of mangrove trees where bees were busy collecting nectars to prepare honey.
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The overall ambience offers an idyllic view of a "mini Sundarbans".
Researcher Mohammed Mainul Anwar has created this mangrove plantation on 500sq feet of land in front of his house in Chattogram city.
The plantation had been possible because Mainul developed his farmland with special types of soil and saline water, which are essential for mangrove trees to live on.
The Business Standard visited Mainul's compound marking the World Mangrove Day to be held today.
"I am actually a honey researcher that is why I have to go to the Sundarbans occasionally. Once I thought that I could plant some mangrove saplings in my yard. Then, I brought some mangrove saplings and planted those in my yard three years back."
"I had collected saline water and soil to develop my estate because mangrove trees cannot live without these two special elements. After three years, almost all trees of my compound have survived and a Sundari tree has now become 15-feet tall," Mainul added.
Mainul is also rearing bees to produce honey because beehives and honey are essential parts of the mangrove forest. There are now eight beehives and five types of bees in his compound.
He is now rearing bee species such as Apis dorsata, Apis mellifera, Apis cerana, Apis florea and Stingless.
Mainul not only developed a mangrove plantation but he has also established a herbarium at the same premises where he scientifically studies different types of mangrove plants.
This tree lover has so far conserved samples of at least 20 species of mangrove plants while he also has a collection of about 70 types of honey which are found only in Sundarbans.
Mainul Anwar said, "Despite being a coastal region, there is no conservation centre for mangrove trees in Chattogram. I'm trying to develop a herbarium to find the species which can grow in the saline water of the coastal region."
Being inspired by his initiative, Chattogram University has also taken an initiative to plant mangrove trees on the university campus, said Mainul.
Dr Harun-ur-Rashid, chairman of the Botany Department at the University of Chittagong, said, "We had planted some saplings of Sundarbans trees on our campus but those did not survive. As Mainul has become successful in planting mangrove trees, we have contacted him to get his assistance to develop such plantation."
