"Rice farming is nothing but losses. Potatoes don't pay either. That's why I've been growing vegetables for four years," says Alim Uddin of Chakla village in Taraganj upazila of Rangpur. Growing vegetables has brought him a profit. "This time I spent Tk 15,000 planting radish on 80 decimals of land. After costs, the profit was Tk 60,000," he said.

It is not only Alim. Many farmers in his village have turned to vegetables after losing money on rice and potatoes. Enter the village and it is mostly vegetable fields that catch the eye, as if Chakla has turned green with vegetables.

Chakla village in Alampur union lies 15 kilometres from Taraganj town. Eighty per cent of its people grow vegetables commercially all year round. The fields are now full of tomatoes, carrots, coriander, beans and other vegetables, and yields are good. Vegetables from here go to Dhaka and other areas.

Delwar Hossain, a member of the Alampur Union Parishad (UP), said many people in Chakla have become well off by growing vegetables. Many young people have ended their unemployment, and day labourers and housewives have overcome want.

On Friday, field after field of vegetables greeted visitors on entering the village. Some people were picking coriander, beans, bottle gourds and aubergines; others were tending the crops. Tin roofs gleamed on most houses, and there were several semi-pucca houses too.

Sirajul Islam's house stands at the entrance to the village. He was once a day labourer. With money from selling vegetables he has now bought 40 decimals of land and is sending his children to school. He said he has grown cauliflower, cabbage, bottle gourd, coriander, tomatoes and beans on 40 decimals all year round for eight years. Thanks to a good harvest at the start of winter, he has already earned about Tk 39,000.

After her husband died, Monowara Begum sold puffed rice and seasonal bhapa pitha at Alampur bazar. That fed the family one meal but not the next, and she and her two children often went nearly hungry. Seven years ago she started growing bottle gourds and beans on 6 decimals of her homestead land, and selling them brought in Tk 5,000. The next year she sharecropped 12 decimals of someone else's land to grow bottle gourds and tomatoes. This time she has grown bottle gourds on 28 decimals and aubergines on 20 decimals, and has taken 35 decimals of land on mortgage. She has a cow and seven goats, and says she is living quite happily with her two children.

Azharul Islam was picking coriander in his field. He has grown tomatoes, beans, bottle gourds and coriander on 60 decimals and has done well from it. Instead of chasing a job, he has grown vegetables on his family's land for five years and earns an average of Tk 10,000 a month. He said he does not use chemical fertiliser on his vegetables and relies on organic manure. To control insects he uses sex pheromone lures (a special kind of trap), which give good yields at low cost.

Upazila agriculture officer Ashok Kumar said vegetables are more profitable than other crops. Having understood this, rich and poor alike in Chakla have turned to vegetable farming. Vegetables from here meet local demand and go to Dhaka and other districts. The agriculture department is advising farmers on modern cultivation methods and on controlling pests and diseases.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.