KM Habibur Rahman

Once a fisherman, Sagir Hossain Somed, 55, of Dakshin Gilabad village of Pirojpur’s Mathbaria upazila, switched to farming after fish population depleted alarmingly within a few years of the construction of a sluice gate in neighbouring Dadhibhanga village.

Cricket bat-makers in Pirojpur’s Nesarabad upazila have gotten to work ahead of schedule with next month’s Cricket World Cup just around the corner, and they are hopeful of good sales during the showpiece event in neighbouring India.

Farmers in Pirojpur and Barisal are passing busy time in growing vegetable saplings on floating seedbeds.

The traffic on the road was quite light and the bus was moving at a speed of 40 to 50mph. It was meant to be a regular morning ride from Bhandaria to Barishal.

Irene, a 20-year-old mother, was happy, as she was returning home after the first nanubari (grandmother’s home) visit of her one-month-old daughter, Ripa.

The lack of rain amid recurring heatwaves is hampering the wooden boat business in parts of Bangladesh as many inland waterbodies, such as canals and marshlands, have all but dried up.

Thousands of people on both sides of the Baleshwar river, which flows between Pirojpur and Bagerhat, have changed their fates by cultivating banana on a commercial basis.

On one fine winter evening, exactly a year ago, a launch named MV Abhijan-10 left Dhaka for Barguna around 6:00pm, with over 600 on board, although there was room for only 420.

Once farmers of Pirojpur used to cultivate more than 50 varieties of paddy during Aman season. But currently, only five to six varieties exist as the rest appear to have vanished, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).

Once farmers of Pirojpur used to cultivate more than 50 varieties of paddy during Aman season. But currently, only five to six varieties exist as the rests appeared to have vanished, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).

There once was a time when carpenters at an industrial estate of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in Pirojpur’s Nesarabad upazila would use handmade equipment to produce various types of furniture.

In the middle of the pandemic, a group of entrepreneurs from Pirojpur’s Nazirpur upazila were inspired to create an alternative source of income locally, and in that course, nurtured a fruit orchard at Sreerumkathi village.

Farmers who grow vegetable saplings on floating seedbeds are hopeful of making good profits this year following two years of strife amid the Covid-19 pandemic, when there was a serious dearth in wholesale buyers due to restrictions on public movement.