By Dr Aynal Haque
RAJSHAHI, Nov 28, 2020 (BSS) – Riverbed localities in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj districts abound with green winter vegetables, creating an eye-catching look everywhere, delighting the farmers at present.
Crops and vegetables farming on river beds has opened up a new horizon in agriculture as farmers are making profit due to bumper production of winter vegetables including some advanced ones.
In order to overcome their financial insolvency, the peasants were seen showing interest to large-scale commercial vegetable farming in vast riverbed areas in the two districts creating a silent revolution there.
While visiting some of the remote and hard-to-reach areas, this reporter witnessed the success of many farmers in cultivating brinjal, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, bottle gourd, tomato and onion.
With cultivating winter vegetables on homestead areas, the farmers planted vegetables on more lands this year compared to the previous years as climate condition remains favourable despite the adverse impact of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
After meeting the local demands, the surplus vegetables are being supplied to different parts of the country including Dhaka benefiting the consumers in general.
“I have cultivated cauliflower and cabbage on an acre of land by spending Tk 25,000. I expect to get Tk 90,000 by selling those within this harvesting season,” said Abu Bakkar Ali, a farmer of Bazubagha Natunpara village under Bagha upazila.
Some other farmers including Raonak Ahmed, Tazammel Haque and Akram Hossain of Amadpur village also revealed similar dreams with smiling faces.
Chars emerged in the rivers of Padma and Mohananda have been bringing fortune to many farmers in Paba, Godagari and Bagha upazilas of Rajshahi and Sadar and Shibganj upazilas of Chapainawabganj districts for the last few years.
Hundreds of farmers in the two districts are now very happy as deposit of alluvial soil in the char areas have given them an opportunity to cultivate various crops and vegetables in their fields, said Sirajul Islam, additional director of department of agricultural extension (DAE).
All varieties of winter vegetables have now appeared in abundance in the local markets and the yield rates achieved so far are found to be higher than that of the target due to early farming of the vegetables.
Farmers are being made habituated with homestead gardening through establishing projection plots of improved technologies for enhancing vegetable output.
Modern technologies are being transferred to the growers level through farmers training, projection plot, field day and different types of campaign so that the farmers could make their cultivation more effective and profitable.
Agriculturist Islam said emphasis is being given to increase production of high yielding seeds and saplings through extension and application of the high yielding varieties in farmers’ level.
Farmers in the region are very much happy as they avail the scopes of recouping the losses caused by Covid-19 pandemic and devastating flood through catching the lucrative high price markets of early varieties of vegetables.
DAE officials said over one lakh hectares of land have already brought under vegetable cultivation in the region this year. The production target has been set at around 23.56 tonnes from each hectare of land.
Around 20.42 lakh tonnes of vegetables are expected to be produced from 86,653 hectares of land in all eight districts in Rajshahi division during the current Rabi season, said Agriculturist Islam.