RAJSHAHI, Nov 15 (BSS): A target has been set to produce 2.04 million (20.42 lakh) tonnes of vegetables from 86,653 hectares of land in the region including its vast Barind tract during the current winter season, officials said.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Rajshahi has set the target to produce various kinds of winter vegetables in all eight districts under Rajshahi division after the best uses of its existing natural resources and modern technologies, said Sirajul Islam, additional director of the DAE.
Meanwhile, the local kitchen markets now abound with various advanced varieties of vegetables including cauliflower, cabbage, bottle gourd, Indian spinach and red amaranth benefiting both the growers and consumers.
The advanced farming brings smiles on farmers' faces here as they are becoming financially solvent by cultivating various types of vegetables, meeting its rising demand with the increasing population.
Sazzad Hossain, 35, a farmer at Darusha village under Paba upazila, said he earned Tk 28,000 after selling red amaranth from one bigha of land following sowing its seed hardly 25 days back at a cost of Tk 10,000.
He is very much happy over the vegetable farming because he gets good yield with a fair market price within a short time.
Ali Hossain, 48, another farmer of Bilnepalpara village, said not only red amaranth but also many other short duration vegetables are being produced here.
Golam Mourtoza, 45, a farmer of Kakonhat village under Godagari upazila, has become an icon of vegetable cultivation at his locality. His annual earnings are around Tk 0.4 million to Tk 0.5 million on an average at present.
He has started vegetable farming with brinjal on only five decimal of fallow land after failing to get irrigation water for Irri-boro farming around five years back.
His initial income was around Tk 15,000 that inspired him to expand vegetables farming commercially.
Mourtoza said farmers in the region are very much happy as they availed the scopes of recouping the losses caused by the adverse impacts of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and devastating flood through getting the lucrative high price of early varieties of vegetables.
He added that the farmers get benefit by farming vegetables in the region including its vast Barind tract. It brings smile on marginal farmers and poor people's faces, he added.
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