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.   Read Bangladesh, Somalia to establish cooperation on contract farming 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. Read Agricultural Loans in Bangladesh: Banks Offering Loans to Farmers and Farms 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. Read Seaweed farming can transform Bangladesh’s blue economy: Experts 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.” Read IFAD, govt start distributing HVG inputs, processing equipment to smallholder farmers “I hope I can harvest the winter vegetables before the month of Agrahayana,” he said.

Already squeezed  in between the coronavirus pandemic and annual monsoon flooding,  a spell of torrential rain arrived to wreck all remaining hopes of salvaging this year’s business for Bagerhat’s vegetable farmers.