Growing big garlic, ginger in the country

There are two kinds of garlic and ginger in our kitchen market. One is locally grown and the other one is imported. Both locally produced ginger and garlic are small in size while the imported ones are large. The imported varieties of ginger and garlic, also known as Chinese varieties, have recently become very popular in Bangladesh. Restaurant workers and housewives prefer the Chinese varieties of garlic and ginger as they are easy to peel. However, our farmers cannot yield such varieties. After nearly a year of watering, weeding and fertilising, they harvest disappointingly small bulbs of garlic and ginger in comparison to the imported ones. Bangladesh is largely dependent on imported garlic and ginger. However, importers have been facing trouble in opening letters of credit for the commodities due to a shortage of dollar in the banks. So, imported varieties of garlic and ginger are now sold at Tk 250-300 and Tk 450-500 respectively in the kitchen markets of the capital city.

In general, the soil in Bangladesh is very fertile. The weather is also favourable for growing all types of plants and crops. We have been successful in growing foreign varieties of potatoes and guavas. So, why can't we be able to produce high-yield varieties of ginger and garlic bulbs? Keeping in mind the demand for big garlic and ginger, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation authorities can import seeds of big size garlic and ginger from the USA or from other countries and distribute them among our farmers at subsidised price. Since the soil and climate of Bangladesh are suitable for garlic and ginger cultivation, we can grow big garlic and ginger commercially to meet national demand. This will make us self-sufficient in garlic and ginger production within a couple of years. Then we won't have to spend foreign currency for importing big-size garlic and ginger.

Tahrima Nithi,

tahrimanithi@gmail.com