Bogura village supplies vegetable seedlings to 23 districts

The village Shahnagar in Shahjahanpur of Bogura has earned the name Chara Nagar (Seedling City) as more than 250 nurseries in the village and adjacent ones supply seedlings of seasonal vegetables to at least 23 districts across the country including the capital.

The nurseries used to supply seedlings worth Tk 40 crore a year before the pandemic which this year came down to Tk 10 crore, said the nursery owners adding that they require around 1.5 tonnes of seeds worth Tk 4 crore to grow the seedlings.

There are 250 nurseries in the area covering at least 250 bighas of land. The first nursery was established in Shahnagar some 36 years back.

During every vegetable season, bundles of seedlings are transported throughout the country through courier services, and long-haul buses.

Farmers from adjacent districts also flock to the village to get the best saplings.

Most of the nurseries mainly grow different varieties of hybrid green chilli seedlings. However, they also grow winter vegetables, such as cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, brinjal, bitter gourd, papaya, onions, among others.

From Bangla month Ashaŗh (June) to Kartik (October), the nurseries work on green chilli and onion seedlings, and from Ashwin (September) they plant tomato, brinjal, papaya, and bitter gourd along with other varieties of winter vegetables, the farm owners said adding that they cultivate these vegetables in three to four phases consecutively on a seedbed.

During a recent visit, The Business Post correspondent found that workers in these nurseries work round the clock to deliver the best product to their consumers.

From early in the morning, customers from all over the country crowd the nursery hub.

The nursery owners often provide them with food and accommodation facilities if they require. Consumers can also pre-book their required products and get them delivered to their respective districts in time.

Amzad Hossain, proprietor Ankhi Beej Bhandar, the pioneer of commercialising vegetable seedling in the district, said over 3,000 farm labourers, mostly rural women, are employed in 250 nurseries in the area.

“Seeing our success, more and more people are getting interested in establishing nurseries here. Not only that, a number of shops of seed, pesticide, and fertiliser have also been established throughout the nursery zone, providing employment opportunities to even more people,” said Amzad.

Khorshed Alam, the proprietor of Khusbu Nursery, told The Business Post that the soil, climate of Shajahanpur added with a skilled workforce made it possible for them to produce such massive output.

“The nursery zone used to produce seedlings worth Tk 40 crore a year before the pandemic had hit the business. Despite satisfactory seedling production, untimely rains and floods lowered the sales to only Tk 10 crore, which indicates a loss of at least Tk30 crore,” said Khorshed.

“Although we are being able to recoup the losses we faced in the past two years, we need more time to revamp our businesses fully,” he added.

Nure Alam, an agriculture officer at Shajahanpur, told The Business Post, “We regularly inspect the nurseries and provide them with necessary logistic support. We are also arranging meetings, training programmes, field days to equip them better.”