Gachihata Aquaculture Farms Ltd (GAFL) is a public limited Company. The GAFL was established by a young, retired army officer Major Mohd Akhtaruzzaman with his wife Salma Zaman in 1987 as a private limited Company and later converted to Public limited Company in 1994. The Company started its initial operation in 1987 over 6.3 acres of land at Gachihata, a remote village under Katiadi Upazila of Kishoreganj district. The Farm had no road, no electricity and no habitats at the beginning. It was a barren land in a small Haor of Kishoreganj but there was a road and railway station within 2 km . Later the farm of the Company was connected with metallic road and independent electricity connection by initiative and persuasion of the Company. Subsequently the Farm has expanded to 135 acres of land through purchase, by 1990. There was no bank in the 10 km vicinity of the farm but now Two major banks – National Bank of Bangladesh (NBL ) and Krishi Bank of Bangladesh (BKB) have their branches in Gachihata Bazar.
Gachihata has now emerged as a new growth center with a big market, schools, college, hospitals, Police Investigation Centre and urban facilities. There are high rise towers of all mobile telephone operators in the country in the Gachihata area. Land prices in the Gachihata area have also increased by 200% from 1987. All these developments and urbanization in that remote Haor area became possible only due to strong leadership and success of the Company.
