NARSINGDI, Sept 21, 2020 (BSS) – About 150000 tonnes of summer vegetables are likely to be produced in the district during the current season due to favourable climate condition.
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Narsingdi Shovan Kumar Dhar told BSS that if the favorable climate condition prevails in the next couple of weeks, 150,000 tonnes of summer vegetables are likely to be produced breaking all of its previous record.
He said some 8550 hectares of land have been brought under summer vegetables cultivation in six upazilas of the district this season than that of 7880 hectares in the last year.
The DAE has encouraged the farmers to cultivate toxin free vegetables and imparted knowledge on the bad effects of using pesticides and chemical fertilizers on vegetables fields and also gave them training on pest management, he added.
He also said the DAE has set a target to cultivate poison free vegetables on 1200 hectares of land in the district. The farmers are now producing chemical free vegetables using organic fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers and poisonous pesticides, he continued.
Various kinds of summer vegetables like lady’s finger, spiny gourd, bitter gourd, koida, cucumber, pumpkin, long bean, brinjal, pointed gourd, poishak, datashak, arum etc grow abundantly in Sadar Shibpur, Raipura and Belabo upazilas of the district.
Narsingdi district is touted as a vegetables surplus area, usually supplies 30 to 40 percent of its production to the capital and other districts after meeting the local demand.
A number of poor farmers in different upazilas of the district achieved self-reliance economically through vegetables farming during the last couple of the years.