Farmers have made a revolutionary change in production of red amaranth (lal shak) seeds in Jibannagar upazila of the district, using modern farming method.
Many farmers in the area have changed their fate through the production of the vegetable seeds as they are now earning lakhs of taka by cultivating different varieties of red amaranth, also locally known as red spinach, in modern way and producing seeds from it.
Their agriculture was limited to IRRI-Boro and Aman cultivation as well as some conventional vegetables in the past. But now they have changed the picture of rural economy.
The massive success in the modern method of red amaranth seeds production in paddy fields has brought a smile to the faces of farmers. Vegetable seed production has now become very popular among them as they can make more profit with less capital in a short period of time. Because of this, there has been a silent revolution in vegetable seeds production in the upazila.
Sources in the Jibannagar Upazila Agriculture Office said in the current season, high-yielding varieties of red amaranth have been planted on 107 hectares of land in Abdulbaria, Dehati, Kashipur, Anantapur, Nishchinpur, Purandpur, Banka and Muktarpur villages of the upazila. Around 260 metric tons of seeds will be produced from this. And the farmers will earn Tk 3.85 crore by selling the produced seeds.
Shukur Ali, a successful vegetable seed producer at Abdulbaria village, said he first started producing vegetable seeds in this area 15 years ago. That year, he spent Tk 1,000 on one bigha land and sold the seeds for about Tk 15,000. As a result, he increased the amount of land the next year due to the high profit.
This year he has planted the vegetable on 5 bighas of land and from that he will produce 40 maunds of seeds.
He expects that he can sell the seeds produced on 5 bighas of land for Tk 2.5 lakh.
He said in the month of Agrahayan, the land is made suitable for vegetable cultivation by ploughing the land well and applying fertilisers. Seedlings grow in 10 to 15 days after sowing the seeds in the field. After four months, the plants are cut from the land and the seeds are collected. Six to 8 maunds of seeds are produced on per bigha land.
Around 8 to 12 thousand taka is spent on each bigha land from land preparation to seed collection. And the produced seeds are sold from Tk 35,000 to Tk 50,000. Excluding all costs, the profit on per bigha of land is Tk 25,000.
Shukur Ali is not alone. Seeing his success, many farmers have started growing vegetables and producing seeds from them. Thus gradually they have chosen the production of vegetable seeds as a source of livelihood. In the meantime, thousands of farmers of Abdulbaria, Dehati, Kashipur, Anantapur, Nishchintpur, Purandpur, Banka and Muktarpur villages of the upazila have changed their fate by producing vegetable seeds.
Farmers said the cost of production is slightly higher due to the increase in the prices of various agricultural inputs.
Jibannagar Upazila Agriculture Officer Alamgir Hossain said the land in Abdulbaria area of the upazila is more suitable for vegetable cultivation. Farmers are very experienced in vegetable cultivation. Due to this, the farmers of the area have added new horizon to the rural economy by cultivating vegetables using modern agricultural technology.
