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Sunday | October 11, 2026 | Dhaka

Construction Begins on Bangladesh’s First Community-Based Agro-Tourism Project in Bogura

 New Nation
 Published: 10:03 PM, 10 October 2026

Construction of “Sukher Khamar Agro Village, Bogura,” the country’s first community-based agro-tourism project, was formally inaugurated on Saturday morning (10 October).

The ceremony took place at the project site in Bagil village of Kahalu upazila, in the Bankadighi bank area. Dr. Md. Abdul Majid Pramanik, Acting Director General of the Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogura, attended as chief guest. The special guests were Kahalu Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mosa. Moniya Khanam, Kahalu Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md. Shafiqul Islam, Upazila Livestock Officer Dr. Md. Abdul Malek, and Upazila Agriculture Officer Mosa. Jannatul Ferdous.

Also, present were Md. Tasdikh Habib, Chairman of Sukher Khamar Agro Limited, and Managing Director Zobayer Islam, along with local dignitaries, project shareholders, well-wishers and representatives from a range of professions.

Speaking about the project’s aims and prospects, Chairman Tasdikh Habib said one of the biggest challenges facing Bangladesh’s agriculture sector is ensuring fair prices for farmers’ produce. “Agro-tourism can open up new possibilities here. Farmers don’t just sell their crops; they can also share the experience of farming with tourists,” he said. “Smart agriculture can be one of the foundations for the next phase of growth in Bangladesh’s agriculture sector, and Sukher Khamar is an initiative to turn that possibility into reality.”

Managing Director Zobayer Islam outlined the project’s progress and future plans. “A year ago, we made a promise, and today we are showing what it looks like in practice,” he said. “The farm is already operating, more than 2,000 guests have visited, and our initiative has generated new economic activity worth Tk 1 crore in a single village. We want to grow not only crops from the soil but a future as well. The plan for Sukher Khamar Agro Village reflects that future, and the project can also help promote rural tourism.”

On 18 September this year, the project’s planned design was unveiled on the stage of the 13th Asian Tourism Fair 2026 at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in Dhaka. At that event, more than 150 partners also received their land deeds.

According to the unveiled design, the project will include a 100-room agro resort with a restaurant, convention hall, swimming pool and boating facilities. Alongside the resort, within the same premises, there will be an integrated farm, a 400-head cattle farm, a bottom-clean fish farm, goat and dumba (fat-tailed sheep) farms, a 1-megawatt solar power plant, a biogas plant, and a central mosque along with a Hafizia orphanage madrasa. Land filling and road construction have already been completed, and full-scale construction will begin this October. The inauguration at the project site followed from this progress.

The project is run on a Shariah-compliant Musharakah model. More than 1,000 people from 21 countries and 42 districts have already become partners. Land has been registered in the name of each partner, and the deeds were handed over at an event called “Founders’ Night” on 25 July 2026.

Agro-tourism: global market and Bangladesh’s potential

Agro-tourism, or agritourism, is a form of tourism in which visitors stay on farms, take part in harvesting or animal husbandry, and experience rural life first-hand. It is now a well-established industry in Italy, Japan, Thailand and Kerala in India.

According to the research firm IMARC Group, the global agro-tourism market was worth more than US$81 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at about 11 percent a year, reaching US$209 billion by 2034.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that tourism contributed roughly Tk 1.02 lakh crore to Bangladesh’s GDP in 2023. In neighboring India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, tourism accounts for 5 to 6 percent of GDP, whereas in Bangladesh the share remains much lower. The government has set a target of raising it to 6 to 7 percent.

As an agrarian, village-centered country, Bangladesh has potential for agro-tourism in each of its 64 districts, which could boost farmers’ incomes and rural employment while raising tourism’s contribution to GDP.

Sukher Khamar Agro Village has already created direct jobs for 41 people in Bagil village and helped 20 women entrepreneurs become self-reliant. The company aims to establish eight Sukher Khamar Agro Villages, one in each of the country’s divisions, by 2035.

What is Sukher Khamar Agro Village?

Sukher Khamar Agro Village is Bangladesh’s first community-based agro-tourism project. Through shares, ordinary people become owners of the project along with the land, receive a share of the actual profits earned from the project’s 15 income sources, enjoy free stays at the resort with their families every year, and can buy every product made there at discounted prices.

The project is operated by Sukher Khamar Agro Limited, a registered company.

Location: Bagil village, Paikar union, Arola post office, Kahalu upazila, Bogura district – about 12 kilometres from Bogura town and roughly four hours by road from Dhaka.