Pirojpur

About Pirojpur

Pirojpur lies in the south-west of Barishal division, with the wide Baleshwar river on its western side separating it from Bagerhat and the Sundarbans. Seven upazilas, Bhandaria, Indurkani, Kawkhali, Mathbaria, Nazirpur, Nesarabad (Swarupkati) and Pirojpur Sadar, cover about 1,278 square kilometres and hold roughly 1.2 million people. In the 2022 census its literacy rate of about 85.5 percent was among the highest of any district in Bangladesh.

The district is a web of rivers and canals, including the Kocha, Kaliganga, Sandhya and Swarupkati, and much of village life still moves by boat. In the north, around Nazirpur, low wetlands stay flooded for months, while the east around Swarupkati is a green maze of guava orchards, nurseries and timber yards. Pirojpur town, close to the Baleshwar, is a quiet, tidy district headquarters.

What sets Pirojpur apart is how people have adapted to water. Farmers grow vegetables on floating rafts, sell guava from boats, and build boats that are themselves sold at a weekly floating market.

History

Pirojpur was part of the Chandradwip kingdom and later of Bakerganj district. Its name is commonly traced to an older form, Firozpur, linked to a Mughal-era figure called Firoz. The town became a municipality in 1886, and the area joined peasant uprisings in the 19th century and protests in the 1920s. Pirojpur became a district in 1984.

In 1971 the Pakistan army killed many people along the Baleshwar, among them the subdivisional police officer Faizur Rahman Ahmed, father of the writers Humayun Ahmed and Muhammed Zafar Iqbal; a memorial now stands at the Baleshwar ghat. The poet Ahsan Habib was born in the district, at Shankarpasha.

Economy and livelihoods

Agriculture and trade carry the district. Paddy, guava, amra, betel leaf, coconut and banana are the main crops, and the guava belt around Atghar and Kuriana is one of the largest in Bangladesh. Swarupkati is famous for two businesses: one of the biggest timber markets in the south, where logs and sawn wood change hands along the Sandhya river, and miles of plant nurseries whose fruit and flower saplings supply nurseries across the country. Nazirpur's floating gardens, recognised by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2015, produce seedlings and vegetables even in the flood season.

Food, culture and festivals

Woodcraft runs deep here. Swarupkati carpenters built the Momin Mosque in Mathbaria entirely of carved wood without nails, and the same skills supply boats, furniture and house frames today. The floating markets, where buyers and sellers trade from boats, are both a livelihood and a sight that draws visitors from across the country.

Food is classic southern Bangladeshi: river fish, coconut, guava and amra in season, and pitha in winter. The local speech is Barishali, and the district is proud of its writers and its unusually high literacy.

Places to visit in Pirojpur

1. Atghar-Kuriana floating guava market

   In Nesarabad upazila, boats loaded with guava gather along the Kuriana canal from about July to September, with orchards on both banks. Hire a small boat in the morning to see the trading and the orchards.

2. Momin Mosque, Mathbaria

   A small wooden mosque built between 1913 and 1920 at Udaytara Burirchar, decorated with carved and painted wood panels. It is a protected archaeological site and one of the finest examples of wooden religious architecture in Bangladesh.

3. Nazirpur floating gardens

   In the wetlands of Nazirpur, farmers build long rafts of water hyacinth and compost, called dhap or baira, and grow seedlings and vegetables on them. The best time to see them is during the monsoon.

4. Rayerkathi zamindar bari

   The brick ruins and temples of an old zamindar estate near Pirojpur town, with arched halls slowly being reclaimed by trees.

5. Baleshwar river ghat

   The riverfront of the wide Baleshwar, with a memorial to those killed there in 1971 and views across to the Sundarbans side.

What Pirojpur is famous for

• Swarupkati guava
• Fruit and flower saplings
• Wooden furniture and woodcraft
• Amra (hog plum)
• Coconut

How to get to Pirojpur

From Dhaka, buses cross the Padma Bridge and reach Pirojpur in roughly 5 to 6 hours, leaving from Sayedabad and Gabtoli; some routes run via Gopalganj. Overnight launches from Sadarghat serve Hularhat near Pirojpur town and take about 12 hours. Alternatively, fly or travel to Barishal and continue by road. For Swarupkati and the floating markets, the easiest base is Swarupkati town, from where boats and auto-rickshaws reach Atghar and Kuriana.

Markets and haats

Kuriana boat market (noukar haat)

A weekly market in Kuriana where locally built wooden boats are sold from the water, busiest in the monsoon when every family needs a boat.

Swarupkati timber market

Around Indurhat across the Sandhya from Swarupkati town, a huge timber market where traders deal in logs and sawn wood, busiest on market days.

Swarupkati nurseries

Rows of plant nurseries along the Swarupkati–Barishal road selling fruit, timber and flowering saplings wholesale and retail.

Pirojpur at a glance

Shops from Pirojpur on Midmart

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Questions about Pirojpur

More districts in Barishal Division

• Barishal Rivers, rice and launches: the old heart of Bangladesh's south
• Barguna Where the Bishkhali and Baleshwar meet the Bay: hilsa, mangroves and Rakhine looms
• Bhola Bangladesh's biggest island, home of hilsa and buffalo-milk curd
• Jhalokati Land of guava and shitalpati, with a floating market on its canals
• Patuakhali Daughter of the sea: Kuakata's sunrise and sunset, watermelon and the Payra port