BSS, Rangpur :
Being inspired by lucrative price of early varieties of winter vegetables, farmers have already exceeded the fixed farming target of the crop in all five districts of Rangpur agriculture region this season.
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said farmers have already cultivated winter vegetables on 38,336 hectares of land, higher by 1.67 percent against the fixed farming target, in the region.
The enthusiastic farmers will continue sowing seeds of winter vegetables till this month-end in the region where the DAE has fixed a target of bringing 37,707 hectares of land under its farming to produce over 8.14 lakh tonnes of the crop this time.
Under the programme, farmers have already cultivated winter vegetables on 12,220 hectares of land in Rangpur, 7,280 hectares in Gaibandha, 6,861 hectares in Kurigram, 6,350 hectares in Lalmonirhat and 5,625 hectares of land in Nilphamari districts.
Meanwhile, early varieties of winter have already appeared in local markets in abundance making farmers happy.
Deputy Director of the DAE at its regional office Md. Moniruzzaman said farmers have already harvested early winter vegetables on 5,485 hectares of land and produced over 1.14-lakh tonnes of the crop with an average yield rate of 20.88 tonnes per hectare.
“Cultivation of vegetables adopting newer cropping patterns has become a profitable venture in the region bringing huge profits to farmers following various pragmatic steps taken by the government in the last eleven years,” he said.
The DAE, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and different NGOs supplied quality seeds and provided technical assistance to farmers for successful vegetable cultivation.
In addition to this, different commercial banks disbursed easy-term agriculture loans among farmers to make the intensive winter vegetables farming programme a success.
Talking to BSS, farmers Abu Bakar and Arman Ali of Ranipukur village here said harvest of early varieties of winter vegetables with excellent yield and lucrative price made them happy inspiring to bring more land under its cultivation this time.
Bigger vegetable traders at Taraganj Bazar in Rangpur said vegetable traders are exporting huge quantities of harvested winter vegetables to capital Dhaka city and other parts of the country daily from different points of the region.
Vegetable trader Moslem Uddin at Kanthalbari Bazar in Kurigram said more than 150-170 trucks loaded with winter vegetables are being sent to the capital city and other places daily from all five districts of Rangpur agriculture region.
“Farmers are happy getting excellent price of harvested winter vegetables like tomato, potato, cauliflower, brinjal, ‘Korola’, ‘Potol’, bean, ‘Jhinga’, ‘Kakrol’ and spices like onion and green chili,” said farmer Ariful Haque of Najirdigar village in Rangpur.
Additional Director of DAE for Rangpur region Muhammad Ali said lucrative market price has inspired farmers in cultivating winter vegetables on more lands and predicted a super bumper production of winter vegetables this season in the region.
