Vegetable growers in Jashore district are working overtime to hit the winter market early and get a good price and add an extra flavour to Bengali cuisine.

The crop fields in Churamonkati, Satmile, Barinagar, Hoibatpur, Kashimpur, Bandabila, Lebotala, Nongorpur and Isali union of Sadar upazila, the hub of vegetable farming in the district, are emerging green with winter delicacies like cauliflower, cabbage, beans, radish, bottle gourds and a variety of spinach.  

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According to official sources 60 per cent of the country's total vegetable harvest comes from Jashore. After meeting the local demand the vegetables are supplied to other parts of the country.

Although the farmers have blamed unseasonal rain for the delay in early winter vegetable cultivation and its soaring prices, some farmers have already succeeded in taking their produced items in the local market aiming to earn more money.

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According to the District Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), as the Robi season started in mid-October, the vegetable growers in the district have already brought their land under cultivation which will continue until mid-March.

Already the authorities concerned have set a target of bringing 16,730 hectares of land under vegetable cultivation. Of these, winter vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, bean, radish, red spinach and green spinach have been cultivated in some 4,135 hectares of land of the district.

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During a tour of the areas this UNB correspondent found that the farmers are passing a busy time in cultivating vegetables in Satmile, Churamonkati, Barinagar, Hoibatpur, Kashimpur, Bandabila, Lebotala, Nongorpur and Isali union of Sadar upazila.

Kamal Hossain, a vegetable grower of Bagdanga village in Churamankati in Sadar upazila, said “All kinds of winter vegetables are grown here. As during the peak season, the price of vegetables drops. I have brought my 2.5 bighas of land under cauliflower and cabbage cultivation early to get a higher price.”

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“I hope I can harvest the winter vegetables before the month of Agrahayana,” he said.

Besides, the price of winter vegetables has delighted the farmers as these are selling at high price at the local market.

Already winter vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, bean, spinach are available at the local market and as the produces are not adequate against the demand, the prices are found to be high. 

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Ujjalm Das, another vegetable grower of Sadar upazila in Jashore, said “I have brought two bighas of land under turnip cultivation and I have spent Tk 1.5 lakh. If the weather remains favourable, I can produce 80-85 maunds of turnip from each bigha of land.”

He also expected to earn Tk one lakh as profit from his produce if there would be no natural disaster.

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Abdul Jabbar, a farmer of Razapur, said this year the farmers failed to bring their land under early winter vegetables due to unwanted rain and hot weather. “I have brought 1.5 bighas of land under turnip cultivation and ten decimals of land under red spinach and I hope I will be able to get profit from it.”

Badal Chandra Biswas, deputy director of District DAE, said “Early winter cultivation has proved to be more profitable than other crops and that’s why the farmers are going for it.”

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He said the price winter vegetable is rising due to low production.