Anisul Islam Noor :
Would you like to see a village full of winter vegetables? No late, visit city’s adjoining areas — Aftab Nagar Meradia, Donia, Nandipara. You cannot imagine that how much acres of land have been brought under cultivation of cauliflowers, cabbage, spinach, radish and red spinach.
A huge volume of seasonal fresh vegetables are being supplied to capital Dhaka everyday from its adjacent areas as well as from different other districts.
Early in the morning or in the evening, the city dwellers are getting fresh vegetables, spinach, red spinach, radish, cauliflowers which are supplied from city’s adjacent areas, including Meradia.
Bumper yield of vegetables across the country signals a tummy-happy winter for the city people this year. Farmers say favourable weather has facilitated an increased production of cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, bean, bottle gourd, carrot, aubergine and other winter vegetables.
Many farmers around the capital have emerged as big suppliers of vegetables to the city dwellers, especially in the winter season. Favourable weather has helped them get a good harvest this season.
“I have cultivated winter vegetables in two bigha of land and expecting a better profit this year as we are getting better price”, said Rajab Ali, a farmer of Meradia area.
Favourable weather is a major reason for the rise in vegetable production, he said.
Farmers of different Upazilas of Narsingdi, Narayanganj, Manikganj and Gazipur alone supply
around 20 truckloads of vegetables to the capital daily, said Abed Ali, a trader of Karwan Bazar.
Farmers of these areas cultivate mainly seasonal vegetables, including radish, onion, potato, green chilli and carrot.
“Vegetables production in Manikganj is expected to exceed last year’s production, thanks to favourable weather,” said Ali Haider, an official of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Narayanganj.
The farmers of these districts produced more than 2.10 lakh tonnes of vegetables in the last fiscal year. “Vegetable production will increase this year as the country has not witnessed any major natural disaster,” he said.
Farmers take a break from tending their farmland in Narsingdi’s Shibpur. City-dwellers are likely to see an abundant supply of winter vegetables this year.
Narsingdi, another vegetables production hub, has so far witnessed a good yield, said Subhash Chanda Gayen, Deputy Director of DAE in the district.
“Farmers in this area are increasing crop production by 1-2 per cent each year. They mainly cultivate cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, bean, bottle gourd and pointed gourd,” he mentioned.
Vegetables of this district are not only supplied to Dhaka but also exported to different countries, he added.
Subhash said the district DAE has set a target to cultivate vegetables on 8,800 hectares of land this year, although Narsingdi is gradually losing arable land due to setting up of new factories.
Vegetable production in different upazilas of Dhaka soared by more than 11 per cent in five years from 2009.
The annual vegetables production was 2.34 lakh tonnes in 2010-11 in Dhaka district including Savar, Dhamrai, Keraniganj and Dohar.
However, farmers are yet to make profit from their produce as most of the profit goes to the middlemen, who buy farmers’ produce in bulk at a cheaper rate, and sell those for much higher prices in the capital city.
“I have a good harvest of vegetables this year, but I am not getting fair price for the produce,” said Monowara Begum of Shibpur upazila in Narsingdi.
She sells each bottle gourd for Tk 20 to 25 to local wholesalers, who then resell those for up to Tk 40 in city markets.
“Unfair prices are highly discouraging to cultivation,” she said to The New Nation over cell phone.
The supermarkets in the city could source directly from the farmers, which would benefit farmers and consumers, said farmers.
“If supermarkets buy more from farmers in the nearby areas like Manikganj, Savar and Narsingdi, the products will be both fresher and cheaper,” said Zamal Hossain, a vegetable trader of Karwan Bazar.
Moreover, huge supply of vegetables has also brought down their prices in city’s kitchen markets.
Each piece of cauliflower is now selling at Tk 15 to 18, cabbage at Tk 13 to 15 in Norsingdi while in Dhaka market they are selling at Tk 30 to 35 and 25 to 30 respectively.
Traders of Karwan Bazar kitchen market are selling each kilogram of radish at Tk 35 to 40 and bitter gourd at Tk 50 to 60, which were sold at Tk12 to 13 per kg and Tk 22 to 26 per kg respectively by the farmers of Shibpur and Rupganj, locals said.
Would you like to see a village full of winter vegetables? No late, visit city’s adjoining areas — Aftab Nagar Meradia, Donia, Nandipara. You cannot imagine that how much acres of land have been brought under cultivation of cauliflowers, cabbage, spinach, radish and red spinach.
A huge volume of seasonal fresh vegetables are being supplied to capital Dhaka everyday from its adjacent areas as well as from different other districts.
Early in the morning or in the evening, the city dwellers are getting fresh vegetables, spinach, red spinach, radish, cauliflowers which are supplied from city’s adjacent areas, including Meradia.
Bumper yield of vegetables across the country signals a tummy-happy winter for the city people this year. Farmers say favourable weather has facilitated an increased production of cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, bean, bottle gourd, carrot, aubergine and other winter vegetables.
Many farmers around the capital have emerged as big suppliers of vegetables to the city dwellers, especially in the winter season. Favourable weather has helped them get a good harvest this season.
“I have cultivated winter vegetables in two bigha of land and expecting a better profit this year as we are getting better price”, said Rajab Ali, a farmer of Meradia area.
Favourable weather is a major reason for the rise in vegetable production, he said.
Farmers of different Upazilas of Narsingdi, Narayanganj, Manikganj and Gazipur alone supply
around 20 truckloads of vegetables to the capital daily, said Abed Ali, a trader of Karwan Bazar.
Farmers of these areas cultivate mainly seasonal vegetables, including radish, onion, potato, green chilli and carrot.
“Vegetables production in Manikganj is expected to exceed last year’s production, thanks to favourable weather,” said Ali Haider, an official of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Narayanganj.
The farmers of these districts produced more than 2.10 lakh tonnes of vegetables in the last fiscal year. “Vegetable production will increase this year as the country has not witnessed any major natural disaster,” he said.
Farmers take a break from tending their farmland in Narsingdi’s Shibpur. City-dwellers are likely to see an abundant supply of winter vegetables this year.
Narsingdi, another vegetables production hub, has so far witnessed a good yield, said Subhash Chanda Gayen, Deputy Director of DAE in the district.
“Farmers in this area are increasing crop production by 1-2 per cent each year. They mainly cultivate cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, bean, bottle gourd and pointed gourd,” he mentioned.
Vegetables of this district are not only supplied to Dhaka but also exported to different countries, he added.
Subhash said the district DAE has set a target to cultivate vegetables on 8,800 hectares of land this year, although Narsingdi is gradually losing arable land due to setting up of new factories.
Vegetable production in different upazilas of Dhaka soared by more than 11 per cent in five years from 2009.
The annual vegetables production was 2.34 lakh tonnes in 2010-11 in Dhaka district including Savar, Dhamrai, Keraniganj and Dohar.
However, farmers are yet to make profit from their produce as most of the profit goes to the middlemen, who buy farmers’ produce in bulk at a cheaper rate, and sell those for much higher prices in the capital city.
“I have a good harvest of vegetables this year, but I am not getting fair price for the produce,” said Monowara Begum of Shibpur upazila in Narsingdi.
She sells each bottle gourd for Tk 20 to 25 to local wholesalers, who then resell those for up to Tk 40 in city markets.
“Unfair prices are highly discouraging to cultivation,” she said to The New Nation over cell phone.
The supermarkets in the city could source directly from the farmers, which would benefit farmers and consumers, said farmers.
“If supermarkets buy more from farmers in the nearby areas like Manikganj, Savar and Narsingdi, the products will be both fresher and cheaper,” said Zamal Hossain, a vegetable trader of Karwan Bazar.
Moreover, huge supply of vegetables has also brought down their prices in city’s kitchen markets.
Each piece of cauliflower is now selling at Tk 15 to 18, cabbage at Tk 13 to 15 in Norsingdi while in Dhaka market they are selling at Tk 30 to 35 and 25 to 30 respectively.
Traders of Karwan Bazar kitchen market are selling each kilogram of radish at Tk 35 to 40 and bitter gourd at Tk 50 to 60, which were sold at Tk12 to 13 per kg and Tk 22 to 26 per kg respectively by the farmers of Shibpur and Rupganj, locals said.
