Rajshahi markets abundant with early winter vegetables

Retail and wholesale markets of Rajshahi have been beaming with early varieties of winter vegetables for the last couple of weeks, making both the sellers and buyers happy providing good returns.

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, green spinach, red spinach, and receiving lucrative prices in the wholesale markets.

They are also happy as they can recoup the losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic by selling produce early this year.

Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said around 20.26 lakh tonnes of vegetables are expected to be produced from 90,220 hectares of land in all eight districts in the Rajshahi division during the current Rabi season.

Atanu Sarker, Sub Assistant Agriculture Officer of Godagari upazila, said thousands of farmers have become happy after attaining good yield and lucrative market price in the early winter.

He said vegetable farming in both commercial and homestead methods is gradually increasing in the vast Barind tract. Many people are seen inclined towards vegetable farming, leaving behind the high-irrigation consuming crops.

On behalf of the ‘Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)’ project, more than 12.58 lakh community people of 2.66 lakh households have turned towards vegetable farming to reduce the pressure on underground water.

DASCOH Foundation has been implementing the project at around 1,280 drought-hit villages in 39 Union Parishads and three municipalities of eight upazilas in Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts since 2015, said Jahangir Alam Khan, Co-ordinator of the project.

Swapan Ali, 45, a farmer of Panchandar village under Tanore Upazila, has become an icon of vegetable cultivation in his locality. His annual earnings are around Tk 3 to 4 lakh on an average at present. He has started vegetable farming with brinjal on only five decimal of fellow land after failing to get irrigation water to irri-boro agriculture around five years back.

Muktar Ali, 45, has become delighted with the good yield and lucrative market price of his newly harvested early winter vegetables and, at present inspiring many others to vegetable farming.

A resident of Hatibandha village under Godagari upazila, Ali has developed himself as a potential vegetable farmer in the region. He has cultivated cabbage on three bighas of land, papaya on one bigha, and brinjal on three bighas of land.

“I have been selling cabbage at Tk 20-25 per piece and brinjal at Tk 80- 90 per kilogram from my land directly for the last couple of weeks,” Ali said, adding that the selling price has delighted him very much.