RAJSHAHI, Nov 18, 2017 (BSS) – Like previous years, varieties of early winter vegetables have started appearing in both retail and wholesale markets here making both the sellers and buyers happy for the last couple of days.
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, 50,000 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.
Yousuf Ali, a farmer of Nandigram village under Durgapur 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 everyday.
Mujibur Rahman, chairman of Gogram Union Parishad, said more vegetables are grown in the area than any other place of the district.
Joynul Abedeen, additional director of DAE, Rajshahi told BSS that farmers are able to produce huge quantities of early winter vegetables due to favorable weather and local DAE official’s support.