Entrepreneur Ghausul Azam has a mini tiller imported from China for small and medium agricultural entrepreneurs. Photo: Collected
Rangpur entrepreneur Gausul Azam started his business at the age of 21 with the belief that agriculture has potential. In 2017, he started selling agricultural machinery online through photos and videos. So far, Krishi Bazar Limited, the company established by this entrepreneur, has sold agricultural machinery to more than 40,000 farmers in all districts of the country. This company sells more than 350 types of agricultural machinery and products.
In addition, Gausul Azam is cultivating maize and potatoes on a contract basis on 1,800 acres of land in four districts of the country. In total, 1,115 farmers are directly involved in this cultivation. In addition, Krishi Bazar's subsidiary, 'Krishaker School', has provided agricultural training to more than 8,000 farmers as a private partner under three government projects.
Krishi Bazar is working as a manager of 129 farmers' farm hubs or nurseries with the help of a non-governmental development organization, or NGO. Krishi Bazar provides these farmers with all the ingredients, including seeds and fertilizers, for seedling production. This organization also provides the service of selling the produced seedlings online.
From this year, Krishi Bazar has started producing fuel products made from agricultural waste (wood powder, rice husks, corn stalks, etc.). It has been named 'Agricultural Chalk'. This chalk can be used for cooking at home. It will cost half as much as natural gas for cooking. And he has created a dewatering machine to make organic fertilizer from cow dung. Including all the initiatives, this entrepreneur currently does a business of about 10 crore taka per year. Gausul, who started his business at the age of 21, has become known as a successful entrepreneur by the age of 29.
Starting with zero investment
In 2014, Gausul Azam enrolled in the Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) department of Rangpur Polytechnic to pursue a diploma. Due to a lack of money, he was not given the final exam in 2017. Then one day, he participated in Grameenphone's 'GP Accelerator' training program in Gaibandha district. The aim was to earn some money from the training. However, that training changed his perspective.
During the training, Iqbal Hossain was introduced. Iqbal Hossain, a resident of Mymensingh, used to import ‘hand reapers’ (rice or grain harvesting machines) from China. After the introduction, Gausul Azam also became interested in selling this agricultural machine. Out of that interest, he took the initiative to sell the machine by posting a video of the machine on social media Facebook. Since it was the rice harvesting season at that time, he received a huge response. He received his first purchase order from Sylhet. He earned 1500 taka from it. In this way, he sold about 80 rice harvesting machines by posting videos on Facebook in a few months. He named the Facebook page Digital Marketing for Rural Enterprise. However, since this name was a bit difficult, he had some difficulty in communicating with the farmers. So he changed the name of the page to Krishi Bazar.
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At one stage, the stock of the machine ran out. So he started looking for investors and importers. He also found two investors. Currently, there are 16 importers and investors in Krishi Bazar. In 2018, he launched a new website called Krishi Bazar. At that time, Gausul Azam used to import power tillers that could be operated by hand. He sold about 500 power tillers in a month. Then in 2018, he involved his wife, Razia Sultana, in the business. He rented a one-room office in the Radha Ballabh area in Rangpur city. Initially, a total of three people, including the husband and wife and another employee, started the company. Currently, a total of 55 employees are working in the company. In addition, there is a warehouse and sales center on 10 percent of the land in the Radha Ballabh area.
Gausul Azam, entrepreneur and managing director of Krishi Bazar, said that in order to expand the business, direct servicing of machinery was launched in 2022. The company provides video call services to customers if necessary. In total, agricultural machinery worth 70 to 80 lakh taka is sold every month.
Startup 'Farmer's School'
In early 2024, Krishi Bazar started training farmers on agricultural machinery and modern agriculture under two projects of the Department of Agricultural Marketing. In the last one and a half years, the organization has trained more than eight thousand farmers under this project. In 2024, Gausul Azam was serving as a private partner of this project. Later, the organization joined another government project.
To serve farmers, the Krishi Bazar's subsidiary 'Krishaker School' was launched. For this activity, about four acres of land were leased in Kadamtala Bazar in Rangpur. This entrepreneur started an agricultural training and research center there. Gausul Azam said that the research center has been launched to provide hands-on training to farmers on Good Agriculture Practices. In the future, there are plans to create online videos on the cultivation of 85 agricultural products from the farmer's school.
The name of the straw and grass cutting machine that makes the work of farmers easier is the name of the chopper machine. Entrepreneur Gausul Azam standing in front of the warehouse and product sales center of the Krishi Bazar in the Radhaballav area of Rangpur city
The name of the straw and grass cutting machine that makes the work of farmers easier is the name of the chopper machine. Entrepreneur Gausul Azam standing in front of the Krishi Bazar warehouse and product sales center in the Radhaballabh area of Rangpur city. Photo: Courtesy of Krishi Bazar
The machine that cuts hay and grass, which makes the work of farmers easier, is called a chopper machine. Entrepreneur Gausul Azam stands in front of the warehouse and product sales center of the agricultural market in the Radhaballav area of Rangpur city. Photo: Collected
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Potato and corn cultivation
In mid-2023, Krishi Bazar started contact farming or contract-based potato cultivation. At that time, Gausul Azam cultivated potatoes on 700 and a half acres of land with 340 farmers in the Jaldhaka area of Nilphamari. And he cultivated corn on 1,048 acres of land with about 775 farmers in the three districts of Rangpur, Kurigram, and Lalmonirhat.
Potatoes (potatoes for chips) are mainly cultivated on these lands. Krishi Bazar provides all kinds of services to farmers under contract farming, including seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. Apart from this, this organization also acts as a guarantor for farmers to take loans. Currently, Krishi Bazar is providing this loan facility jointly with Dhaka Bank. Krishi Bazar buys and sells corn from these farmers. This entrepreneur sells corn worth about seven crore taka during the season.
Gausul Azam said, it is often heard that farmers are not making a profit by producing crops. That is why we have started contract farming. From this year, we are working on making 'agricultural chalk' from agricultural waste (wood powder, rice husk, corn stalks, etc.). This chalk will reduce the cost of cooking with gas by 50 percent. Apart from this, we are making organic fertilizer through a de-watering machine.
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