Early winter vegetables benefit Rajshahi farmers

Both growers and consumers have become happy because they are getting lucrative market prices for early winter vegetables in the Rajshahi region.

Like the previous couple of years, both retail and wholesale markets in the city have become abundant with the appearance of early varieties of winter vegetables making both the sellers and buyers happy for the last couple of weeks.

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

They are also very much happy as they avail the scopes of recouping the losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic situation through getting the lucrative high-price markets of early varieties of vegetables.  

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.  

His co-villager Saiful Alam, 30, has brought three bighas of land under papaya, brinjal and cabbage each and he’s happy with his sale proceeds.

Jamil Ahammed, 53, another farmer of Fulbari village under the same upazila, has cultivated around 10,000 cauliflowers on two bighas of land and the field has now become eye-catching. He’s expected to start harvesting the vegetable within the next couple of days.  

Ahammed said the cauliflower was seen selling at Tk 80-90 per piece just a few days back at the local wholesale market.

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 average at present.

He started vegetable farming with Brinjal on only five decimals of fellow land after failing to get irrigation water for Irri-Boro farming 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.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural 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 hundreds and thousands of farmers have become happy after attaining good yields and lucrative market prices in the early winter.

He said vegetable farming in both commercial and homestead methods is gradually increasing in the vast Barind tract as many people are seen inclined towards 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 are being motivated and encouraged towards vegetable farming to reduce the pressure on underground water.  

The project is being implemented by DASCOH Foundation 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, Coordinator of the project.