Winter vegetable farming target exceeds in Rangpur region

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RANGPUR, Jan 14, 2020 (BSS) – Being inspired by lucrative price of early
varieties of winter vegetables, farmers have already exceeded the fixed
farming target of the crop in all five districts of Rangpur agriculture
region this season.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said farmers
have already cultivated winter vegetables on 38,336 hectares of land, higher
by 1.67 percent against the fixed farming target, in the region.

The enthusiastic farmers will continue sowing seeds of winter vegetables
till this month-end in the region where the DAE has fixed a target of
bringing 37,707 hectares of land under its farming to produce over 8.14-lakh
tonnes of the crop this time.

Under the programme, farmers have already cultivated winter vegetables on
12,220 hectares of land in Rangpur, 7,280 hectares in Gaibandha, 6,861
hectares in Kurigram, 6,350 hectares in Lalmonirhat and 5,625 hectares of
land in Nilphamari districts.

Meanwhile, early varieties of winter have already appeared in local
markets in abundance making farmers happy.

Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Md. Moniruzzaman said
farmers have already harvested early winter vegetables on 5,485 hectares of
land and produced over 1.14-lakh tonnes of the crop with an average yield
rate of 20.88 tonnes per hectare.

“Cultivation of vegetables adopting newer cropping patterns has become a
profitable venture in the region bringing huge profits to farmers following
various pragmatic steps taken by the government in the last eleven years,” he
said.

The DAE, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh
Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and different NGOs supplied
quality seeds and provided technical assistance to farmers for successful
vegetable cultivation.

In addition to this, different commercial banks disbursed easy-term
agriculture loans among farmers to make the intensive winter vegetables
farming programme a success.

Talking to BSS, farmers Abu Bakar and Arman Ali of Ranipukur village here
said harvest of early varieties of winter vegetables with excellent yield and
lucrative price made them happy inspiring to bring more land under its
cultivation this time.

Bigger vegetable traders at Taraganj Bazar in Rangpur said vegetable
traders are exporting huge quantities of harvested winter vegetables to
capital Dhaka city and other parts of the country daily from different points
of the region.

Vegetable trader Moslem Uddin at Kanthalbari Bazar in Kurigram said more
than 150-170 trucks loaded with winter vegetables are being sent to the
capital city and other places daily from all five districts of Rangpur
agriculture region.

“Farmers are happy getting excellent price of harvested winter vegetables
like tomato, potato, cauliflower, brinjal, ‘Korola’, ‘Potol’, bean, ‘Jhinga’,
‘Kakrol’ and spices like onion and green chili,” said farmer Ariful Haque of
Najirdigar village in Rangpur.

Additional Director of DAE for Rangpur region Muhammad Ali said lucrative
market price has inspired farmers in cultivating winter vegetables on more
lands and predicted a super bumper production of winter vegetables this
season in the region.