Home ›› 18 Jan 2023 ›› Front
Vegetable production growth in FY22 was the lowest in the last five years, only 3 per cent, while it was the highest, 14.53 per cent, in FY18.
Growth was 9.62 per cent in FY21, 8.28 per cent in FY20, and 4.18 per cent in FY19.
Vegetable production in FY22 increased by 9.63 lakh tonnes year-on-year though the amount of cultivated land fell by 0.12 lakh hectares, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) data shows.
Farmers across the country produced around 32.65 million tonnes of vegetables in FY22, with 22.95 tonnes of yield per hectare, which was around 31.68 million tonnes in the previous fiscal year. On the other hand, vegetables were cultivated in 14.22 lakh hectares of land in FY22, down from 14.34 lakh hectares in the year before.
Vegetable production was 28.9 million tonnes in FY20, 26.69 million tonnes in FY19, 25.62 million tonnes in FY18, and 22.37 million tonnes in FY17. The yield rose by 46 per cent in five years. On the other hand, during these five years, the amount of land vegetables were cultivated in went up by 3.45 lakh hectares.
Speaking about the slowdown in production growth, DAE Director General Badal Chandra Biswas told The Business Post vegetable production is adequate compared to the demand in the country.
“We already have surplus potato and some other vegetables. Keeping vegetable production constant, we are now focusing on using some of the farmland to produce oilseeds,” he said.
The DAE data shows farmers produced 11.4 million tonnes of potato, the highest for a single vegetable, in FY22, followed by 28.98 lakh tonnes of eggplant, 19.19 lakh tonnes of cabbage, 18.29 lakh tonnes of tomato, and 17.88 lakh tonnes of radish.
The five vegetables made up 60.76 per cent of the total production while bottle gourd could not make it to the top five like FY21.
Among other vegetables, the country produced 17.67 lakh tonnes of cauliflower, followed by 17.55 lakh tonnes of bottle guard, 16.61 lakh tonnes of pumpkin, 8.9 lakh tonnes of bean, and 6.58 lakh tonnes of cucumber. The 10 vegetables made up 81.38 per cent of the total production.
Potato alone occupied 34.92 per cent share of the total vegetable production, followed by eggplant (8.88 per cent), cabbage (5.88 per cent), tomato (5.60 per cent), and radish (5.48 per cent).
Rangpur top producer
As a single district, around 19.97 lakh tonnes of vegetables were produced in Rangpur in FY22, followed by 16.54 lakh tonnes in Dinajpur, 16.18 lakh tonnes in Rajshahi, 14.92 lakh tonnes in Bogura, and 13.13 lakh tonnes in Munshiganj. Bogura and Rajshahi altered their positions compared to the previous year.
The five districts produced 80.73 lakh tonnes, which was 24.73 per cent of the total yield.
Farmers do not get better prices
Vegetable retailers said tomato had been sold for Tk 50-120 per kg, eggplant for Tk 50-70 per kg, and radish for Tk 30-50 per kg in the capital in the last two years. Besides, per piece cabbage sold for Tk 30-50.
Though retailers in Dhaka and the big cities sell vegetables at higher prices, farmers cannot do that. Abdul Hadi, a farmer from Badargonj upazila of Rangpur, said, “We can sell tomato at a maximum of Tk 25 per kg, eggplant at Tk 15-20 per kg, radish at Tk 10 per kg, and cabbage at Tk 15 per piece.
Farmers usually receive less than one-third of the retail prices that traders in the capital city and Chattogram get.
“We do not know any big traders in Dhaka and Chattogram. We sell our vegetables in local markets. We cannot sell outside the district as we do not have any network,” Hadi said.
He said fertiliser, labour, and diesel costs had increased while cultivation costs rose by 50 per cent. “Due to a lack of good prices and the increase in cultivation costs, we could not reap the benefits of increased production.”
The DAE director general said vegetable plants need a short time to grow.
“For the last few years, farmers have been getting good prices for their produce. Moreover, farmers can grow other crops before and after vegetable cultivation on the same land,” he added.
