Early varieties of vegetables

Even the least probing eyes should not miss that an array of winter vegetables has literally flooded the market. This was the case long before the advent of the month Agrahayan, the last month of Bangla season Hemanta. There has been a glut of cauliflower and cabbage -particularly the former has appeared in its lustrous glory. So has done flat bean. Cabbages of all sizes and shapes are yet to announce its presence in the kitchen market but those venturous ones adorning the baskets and racks of sellers are of quite moderate sizes. Potato has also made its tentative appearance.
Had this trio -forget about the last one - followed the earlier order of seasonal cycle, they would not have as yet forced their way into market. Then what has made this possible? The plain answer is that in developed and a few developing countries, introduction of early varieties of vegetables was accomplished some years back. Agriculturists had to take up the challenge of feeding an ever increasing population. In Bangladesh this challenge is particularly daunting because of an over-size population in a small country.
In the initial stage, the overriding emphasis was on high-yielding varieties of cereal -rice in particular. The reason is obvious. Food in this part of the world referred primarily to rice or other food grains -not meat, fish egg, milk, vegetables and fruit. This perception has, happily, been undergoing a slow but steady change. At the policy level too, the paradigm shift has been behind development of varieties at a time when it is too early to herald winter's advent.
It looks like a miracle. But this is no miracle at all. Agricultural scientists had to devote themselves to painstaking research and experiment in order to come up with ever startling results. So, different varieties of winter vegetables are there in the market. It should not escape notice that bottle gourd is now an all-season vegetable. There are a few other such farm produces, once found only in a particular season, that are now available almost round the year. Again, there is no miracle as such. It is the handiwork of agri-scientists.
While the untimely availability is a cause for celebration, the dishes made from those hardly prove salubrious. At times pungent and at other times repudiating the flavour those were known for, such early varieties appear to have come on a mission of infidelity. Cabbage or cauliflower was famous for their distinctive taste. Even the flat bean and bottle gourd in winter tasted special because of their phenomenal aroma when cooked with select fish. The combination reminded food connoisseurs of a proverb better suited in human relations, 'Made for each other'.
For the sake of quantity, quality in the food sector is thus sacrificed. There are different methods of developing early and high-yielding varieties. But the genetically modified one is yet to be acceptable to most people. Its consequences can be manifold -from harmful to disastrous. People the world over are facing the difficult choice of striking a balance between food security and organic foods. Some people are staunch supporters of organic crops but their cultivation is yet to prove successful like the widely used type using chemical fertiliser and pesticide.
Farm produces moreover undergo a second round of chemical treatment for perseveration in countries like Bangladesh. This is where public health comes under a grave threat. People's right to safe food cannot be undermined so. If done, the nation will have to pay for this blunder through its nose.