National Desk :
Farming of summer vegetables during the current season has exceeded target everywhere in Rajshahi division including its vast Barind tract creating scopes of harvesting additional outputs coupled with bringing smiles on faces of all concerned.
Currently, the bonus farming fields together with yields are contributing a lot towards meeting up the gradually mounting vegetable demands amid the adverse impact of Covid-19.
According to the latest official data, the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has set a target to produce around 9.15 lakh tonnes of vegetables from 49,895 hectares of land in all eight districts in the division during the current Kharif-1 season.
But, finally, the farmers have brought 53,718 hectares of land under varieties of summer vegetables benefiting the consumers in general.
At present, most of the kitchen markets in the region are currently buzzing with all summer vegetables like red amaranth, bottle gourd, spinach, lady’s finger, pointed gourd, bitter gourd, pumpkin and brinjal benefiting both growers and consumers.
Even many of the winter vegetables are being cultivated in the summer season. The farmers are seen showing their interests towards vegetable farming as they have been gaining more profit over the last couple of years.
Vegetable farming brings a smile on farmers’ faces here as they are becoming financially solvent by cultivating various types of vegetables.
Sirajul Islam, additional director of the DAE, said Rajshahi division has been thought to be the country’s most prospective vegetable producing region.
“Farmers get benefits by farming vegetables in the region. It brings a smile on marginal farmers and poor people’s faces,” agriculturist Islam said, illustrating the aspects of vegetable farming.
Riaz Uddin, 43, a farmer of Khirshin Tiker area, said he earned Taka 20,000 by selling red amaranth from one bigha of land after sowing its seed hardly 20 days back at a cost of Taka 12,000.
“We are very much happy with vegetable farming because we get good yield with fair market price within a short time,” he told BSS.
Ashraf Ali, 37, another farmer of Mollapara area, said not only red amaranth but also many other short duration vegetables are being produced here.
Farmers in the vast Barind tract are growing brinjal by covering the soil with polythene sheets with a view to saving the plants from being damaged by rain water. Brinjal is generally a winter vegetable but the growers here are farming the item in summer in number.
Abdul Maleque, 54, a farmer of Bijoynagar village under Godagari upazila, said he earned Taka 25,500 by selling red amaranth from one bigha of land after sowing its seed hardly 20 days back at a cost of Taka 12,400 like the previous couple of years.
Gardening around homesteads in the summer season has been gaining popularity with production of different fruits and vegetables. Marginal farmers and the poor people are mostly engaged in this venture by making the best use of spaces around their homes.
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 in around 1,280 drought-hit villages in 39 Union Parishads (Ups) and three municipalities of eight upazilas in Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapainawabganj districts since 2014, said Jahangir Alam Khan, coordinator of the project.
With this breakthrough, gardening around homesteads in the summer season has been gaining popularity with production of different fruits and vegetables.
Marginal farmers and the poor people are mostly engaged in this venture by making the best use of free spaces around their homes, Jahangir Khan added.
