Tangail farmer turns heads with colourful cauliflowers cultivation

A farmer of Tangail’s Bhuapur upazila has become a source of inspiration for many in the area due to his success in cultivating colourful cauliflowers.

Arshed Ali of Chabbisha village in the upazila cultivated cauliflowers on 33 decimals of land in his yard. On the advice of the local agriculture office, he experimentally cultivated colourful cauliflowers on half of his land.

The farmer is making a better profit by cultivating four different coloured cauliflower with organic fertilisers due to their high demand in the market.

Many others of the upazila have become interested in cauliflower cultivation seeing Arshed’s success. The youths of the area hope to receive the support of the local agricultural office in order to become successful in this venture.

Visitors regularly flock to Arshed’s small farm to see the colourful vegetables. Some of them buy the vegetables straight from the farm, some seek Arshed’s advice on cauliflower cultivation while others take photos and videos.

Compared to the regular varieties, the colourful cauliflowers are larger in size. Due to his success, Arshed has become known as the colourful farmer in his locale.

In response to a question, he told The Business Post that the upazila agriculture officer Dr Humayun Kabir advised him to grow colourful cauliflower.

“They provided me with 400 seedlings of new varieties of colourful cauliflower, organic fertilisers, insect repellents and advice on how to tend to the plants. Experimentally I cultivated the new variety on 15 decimals of land and the yield is good,” he said.

According to him, the plants yielded within 75-80 days of cultivation. The multi-coloured vegetables are attractive and fetch a good price in the market.

Mahmudul Hasan, a vegetable grower of the upazila came to visit the farm and learn about the colourful cauliflower cultivation process.

“I had heard of colourful cauliflowers before but never seen them. So when I heard about the cultivation in a neighbouring village I came to see and learn about it,” he said, adding that he plans to cultivate the vegetable next season.

Buyers like Rafiqul Islam and Abdur Rahim come from Gopalpur, Kalihati and Ghatail upazilas to visit the farm to buy cauliflowers.

Rafiqul said, “I first came to know of this from Dr Humayun Kabir’s Facebook post. I bought some cauliflowers from the farm for Tk 50 a piece.”

Colourful cauliflowers are popular worldwide and mostly used in salad dishes. According to agriculture office sources, the colourful varieties are more nutritious than the regular ones.

Bhuapur upazila Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Agriculture Officer, Dr Humayun Kabir said this is the first initiative to grow colourful cauliflower experimentally in the upazila under the project to increase the intensity of crops in the greater Mymensingh region.

“I have talked to several farmers but Arshed Ali was the first one to express interest in the cultivation. We provided him with four different varieties of seedlings, fertiliser and insecticides and gave him all sorts of support,” he said.

This variety can be grown in the same way as regular cauliflowers using organic fertilisers. More farmers have shown interest in cultivating colourful cauliflowers after witnessing Arshed’s success, the agriculturist added.

Deputy Director of Tangail District DAE agriculturist Md Ahsanul Basar said, “With the aim of increasing the intensity of crops in the greater Mymensingh region, an initiative has been taken to cultivate experimental coloured cauliflower in 12 upazilas of Tangail. In the experimental phase, 36 farmers have cultivated the colourful vegetable in the district.”

Mostly yellow and pink coloured cauliflowers have been cultivated so far. The nutritional value of this variety of Indian cauliflower is very high, said DAE sources.

Initiatives have been taken to expand the cultivation next season as the experimental cultivation phase was a success. Many farmers have expressed interest in commercial cultivation of the vegetable.