Early winter vegetables appear in Rajshahi markets

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RAJSHAHI, Dec 3, 2018 (BSS) – Like previous years, varieties of early
winter vegetables have appeared abundantly in both retail and wholesale
markets here making both the sellers and buyers happy.

Farmers in the region including the vast Barind tract are successfully
producing early varieties of winter vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage,
radish, carrot, beet, turnip, tomato, leafy spinach, red spinach and
receiving fair prices in the wholesale markets.

Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials said almost 1,
52,000 hectares of land was brought under vegetables cultivation in the
region this year.

They said production target has been set at around 21.5 tonnes from each
hectare of land. Around 2.5 lakh tonnes of vegetables are expected to be
produced here this season.

Over one and half lakh people of 75 villages are involved in cultivating
and selling different types of vegetables in the area.

Mominul Islam Ali, a farmer of Monigram village under Bagha Upazila,
said he spent about Taka 750 for cultivating cauliflower on one decimal of
land and got 1.5 to 2 mounds of cauliflower. The wholesale market price of
cauliflower is between Taka 1,600 to 1,800 per mound.

Meanwhile, huge quantities of vegetables are being transported to Dhaka,
Chittagong and other major cities from the region. Sabiar Rahman, a local
trader, said some 15 to 20 trucks loaded with vegetables are going to the
capital and other major cities every day.

Lutfor Haider Rashid, chairman of Kalma Union Parishad under Tanore
Upazila, said more vegetables are grown in the area than any other place of
the district.

Mustafizur Rahman, additional director of DAE, Rajshahi told BSS that
farmers are producing huge quantities of early winter vegetables due to
favorable weather and local DAE official’s support.

He said farmers have started growing chemical-free vegetables, using
organic manure like vermi-compost, in the region including its vast Barind
Tract.

By dint of diversified interventions, gardening around homesteads in the
current season through using the organic fertilizer has started gaining
ground with production of different fruits and vegetables safe and hygienic
ways.

Marginal farmers and the poor people in the region are mostly engaged in this
venture by making the best use of spaces around their homes over the last
couple of years.

“I have cultivated bottle gourd, cucumber and coriander on 16 decimals of
land beside our homestead by using organic fertilizer this year, and I got
expected production,” Momtaz Uddin, a farmer of Pirijpur village, said.

Shefali Begum, 45, wife of Shahidul Islam in Karnahar village of Paba upazila
said, “We have been producing chemical-free vegetables, using vermi-compost.
We are also selling some vegetables in the local market after meeting the
family’s demand.”

Nazirul Islam, 40, a farmer at Bijoynagar village in Godagari upazila, said
chemical-free vegetables are in high demand at the village, and locals
purchase the vegetables at higher prices.