Five vegetables make up 62% of total production

Bangladesh produces over four dozen types of vegetables, but five of those greens made up for more than 62 per cent of the country’s total production.

Potatoes – the most common item for everyday cooking – alone occupied 37 per cent of Bangladesh’s total vegetable production, followed by brinjal at 8.53 per cent, tomato 6.05 per cent, bottle gourd 5.31 per cent and radish 5.20 per cent.

Bangladesh’s total vegetable production in Fiscal Year 2019-20 was 2.89 crore tonnes, and the production of top five items stood at 1.80 crore tonnes, according to latest data from the Department of Agriculture (DAE).

However, the DAE only keeps track of 34 types of vegetables.

The private sector is playing a major role in this regard, and the production volume of vegetables is going up due to an increase in the use of hybrid seeds, Bangladesh Seed Association’s Executive Director Fakhrul Islam said.

“The use of hybrid vegetable seeds is increasing day by day. Hybrid seeds for almost every vegetable are now available in the market, and those make up the majority of seeds available,” said Fakhrul.

Mansur Rahman, a farmer from Gaibandha’s Sadullahpur Upazila who cultivates four of the five top vegetables in the country excluding potatoes, made a large profit last winter by farming tomatoes.

“Bottle gourd, tomato, radish and brinjal crops have high yields and those fetch a high price in the market. I use hybrid seeds in the field,” Mansur said.

“I procured some of these seeds from the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), but bought the majority from private companies,” he added.

Potato

Farmers produced 1.07 crore tonnes of potato in FY2019-20.  They received a yield of 23.22 tonnes per hectare on average, which is the ninth highest for vegetables produced in the country.

Farmers cultivated potatoes on 462,694 hectares of land during this period, which is an increase of 46,076 hectares in FY2016-17.

Potato production was 90.97 lakh tonnes in FY2016-17. After three years, the vegetable’s production increased by 16.49 lakh tonnes, and per hectare yield increased by 1.39 tonnes.

Three districts – Rangpur, Munshiganj and Bogura – cultivate more than one third of the crop. Rangpur produced 13.37 lakh tonnes of potato, followed by 13.27 lakh in Munshiganj, 12.56 lakh in Bogura and 9.46 lakh in Joypurhat.

Bangladesh has been witnessing a gradual increase of surplus potatoes for several years, and the stakeholders have expressed their concerns about the rising wastage.

DAE Director General Md Asadullah said, “The government has decided to use potatoes as relief goods, which will help to clear unsold potatoes stored in cold Storage.” 

On the issue, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque recently said, “Food processing companies should come forward to use locally produced potatoes to make diversified food items. They can produce chips with local potatoes instead of imported ones.”

Brinjal

Brinjal is the second highest produced vegetable in Bangladesh, and its demand increases in the month of Ramadan every year.

In FY2019-20, the country produced 24.66 lakh tonnes of brinjal – which is an increase of 3.11 lakh tonnes produced in FY2016-17. The amount of land where this vegetable is cultivated has however declined by 16,920 hectare in the last three years.

This indicates that the crop’s yield per hectare has increased by a significant margin. Per hectare yield reached to 26.35 tonnes in FY2019-20, from 19.49 tonnes in FY2016-17 – an increase by 6.85 tonnes.

Jamalpur produced 1.66 lakh tonnes of brinjal in FY2019-20, the highest among the districts, followed by 1.41 lakh tonnes produced in Jashore, 1.13 lakh tonnes in Mymensingh, 1.08 lakh in Jhenaidah and 1.02 lakh tonnes in Chittagong.

However, brinjal production in hilly and coastal areas is comparatively low. The three hilly districts produced only 44,845 tonnes of the crop, while six coastal districts (Barisal, Borguna, Pirojpur, Bhola, Jhalokathi, and Patuakhali) produced 68,846 tonnes.

Tomato

According to the latest DAE data, Bangladesh produced 17.49 lakh tonnes of tomato on 57,876 hectares of land in FY2019-20. The crop’s per hectare yield was 30.23 tonnes. This is the second highest production per hectare after cabbage – which stands at 30.46 tonnes per hectare.

In FY2016-17, the country produced 14.83 lakh tonnes of tomato on 54,618 hectares of land, and per hectare yield was 27.16 tonnes. The production has increased by 2.66 lakh tonnes since that period.

Per hectare yield of the crop also increased by 3.07 tonnes, and the amount of land where this vegetable is cultivated has increased by 3,258 hectares during the same period.

In the FY2019-20, Sylhet produced the highest 1.15 lakh tonnes of tomatoes, followed by 99, 083 tonnes in Dinajpur, 96,070 in Jamalpur, 94,282 in Chittagong and 77,424 tonnes in Habiganj districts.

On the matter, DAE’s Additional Deputy Director Shamim Ahmed said, “We are working on a summer variety of this vegetable to ensure a good price during the summer season.”

Bottle gourd

Bangladesh produced 15.36 lakh tonnes of bottle gourd on 54,644 hectares of land in FY 2019-20, and the yield was 28.11 tonnes per hectare. This vegetable has the fourth highest yield per hectare in the country.

In FY2016-17, the country produced 11.38 lakh tonnes of the crop in 42,911 hectares of land. After three years, bottle gourd production rose by 3.97 lakh tonnes and land used for cultivating the crop increased by 11,733 hectares – which is a 27 per cent rise.

Pabna produced the highest 69,158 tonnes of bottle gourd in FY2019-20, followed by Mymensingh 67,840 tonnes, Chittagong 63,734 tonnes, Barisal 52,945 tonnes and Sylhet 51,820 tonnes.

The item grows all over the country and is among the most widely distributed vegetables in Bangladesh.

Radish

Bangladesh produced 15.04 lakh tonnes of radish in FY2019-20 on 50,058 hectares of Land. This is a decline of 1,361 hectares compared to FY2016-17.

Production per hectare rose to 30.05 tonnes in FY2019-20, compared to 27.61 tonnes in FY2016-17. This is the third highest production rate after cabbage (30.46) and tomato (30.23).

Bogura produced the highest 83,300 tonnes, followed by Sylhet 77,875, Gaibandha 62,755, Sunamganj 51,239 and 50,000 tonnes in coastal district Cox’s Bazar in FY2019-20. The crop is cultivated throughout the country.