Farmers in Jashore’s Jhikargacha upazila have expressed satisfaction over the prices of winter vegetables this season in the local markets.
Farmers in different areas of the upazila have exceeded the farming target of varieties of winter vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and so forth.
By being able to market the vegetables in advance farmers have already taken the profit money home. This season, cabbage is being sold at Tk 20 to 25 per kg whereas, even a fortnight ago, the retail price of cauliflower was Tk 30 to 35 per kg.
This year cabbage has been cultivated on 300 hectares of land and cauliflower on 25 hectares. Visiting the area, one can see a cabbage fields one after another in the vast vegetable fields of Barbakpur-Madhukhali village.
Farmers are now very busy picking cauliflower from the fields. They don’t even have time to talk, but there is a smile of contentment on every farmer's face.
According to the farmers seedbed, transplantation, fertilizer, irrigation, pesticides, care etc in vegetables cultivation costs Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 per Bigha of land whereas, the farmers earn pa net profit of TK 50,000 to 60,000 per Bigha for a production of 60 to 70 mounds
per Bigha.
Ali Hossain a farmer of Barbakpur village, who has responded to broccoli cultivation, said that he has cultivated cauliflower on 6 Bighas of land and cabbage on 4 Bighas of land as well as he has prepared a seedbed for cultivating broccoli on 1.5 Bighas of land.
A young farmer Aslam Khan said he has planted cabbage on 3 Bighas of land and cauliflower on two bighas of land this year. In return, he got cabbage production up to 60-75 mounds per Bigha and Cauliflower up to 40-45 mounds.
Farmers Abdul Gafur, Alauddin, Mohiuddin, Ali Newaz Bablu and Soarab Hossain said they have planted Cauliflower on 15 to 20 Bighas of land and the yield has also been good. They got a market price of TK 800 to 1,000 for per mound of cabbage.
Md Ayub Hossain, Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officer in charge of Gadkhali Union of the Upazila Agriculture Extension Department said, the farmers of his block have achieved great success in planned farming as usual.
Farmers are getting motivated to cultivate winter vegetables more and more as they are financially profitable.
He added that the cultivation of Chuijhal (Piper Chaba) and Shojne (Drumsticks) has added a new dimension to vegetable cultivation among the farmers of his block.
