Like the previous couple of years, both retail and wholesale markets here 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, 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.
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 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 yield and lucrative market price in the early winter.
He said vegetable farming in both commercial and homestead methods are gradually increasing in the vast Barind tract as many people are seen inclined towards the 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.
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 Taka 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 for Irri-boro farming around five years back.
Muktar Ali, 45, has become delighted with 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 bigha of land, papaya on one bigha and brinjal on three bigha of land.
“I have been selling cabbage at Taka 20-25 per piece and brinjal at Taka 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 bigha of land under papaya, brinjal and cabbage each and he's happy with his sale-proceed.
Jamil Ahammed, 53, another farmer of Fulbari village under the same upazila, has cultivated around 10,000 cauliflowers on two bigha 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 Taka 80-90 per piece just a few days back at the local wholesale market.