Farmers make some profit if they can bring vegetables to market early, before winter sets in. So farmers in Feni are rushing to grow winter vegetables to reach the market ahead of the season. Farmers in various upazilas of the district are busy raising seedlings and preparing their land.

According to the agriculture department, the target for winter vegetables in Feni is 930 hectares. Of the six upazilas, vegetables are being grown on 367 hectares in Feni Sadar, 121 in Chhagalnaiya, 40 in Fulgazi, 71 in Parshuram, 94 in Daganbhuiyan and 237 in Sonagazi. Farmers are busy in the fields with aubergine, radish, tomato, beans, yardlong beans, cucumber, bottle gourd, pumpkin, cauliflower, cabbage and other vegetables.

A visit to several villages in Sonagazi found farmers growing winter vegetables on a large scale, though Cyclone Sitrang has disrupted the rhythm somewhat. Even so, Abdur Rahman, a farmer of Char Chandia union, was busy raising seedlings and planting early vegetables. He said he was growing winter vegetables on 20 decimals this year.

In Daganbhuiyan, a farmer named Azizul Haque was seen tending his land with his two sons. When asked to talk, he came up onto the field ridge after a while and said he had 40 decimals of land, all planted with various winter vegetables. Labour wages are high, so he has taken to the field with his sons.

Abul Hossain, a farmer of Omrabad village, said he was growing vegetables on 20 decimals this time. Early winter vegetables are in greater demand when they reach the market, so they fetch a higher price. He hopes to bring his vegetables to market before winter arrives.

Another farmer, Muhammad Ali, said he had grown aubergine on 26 decimals and could start selling within a week or so. Demand and prices are both high in the market now, and barring a natural disaster he hopes to earn a lakh taka.

Local vegetable traders said any vegetable that reaches the market at the start of the season fetches a higher price. Vegetables are grown widely in Sonagazi upazila, and large quantities are sent to other parts of the country after meeting local demand.

Md Ekram Uddin, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Feni, said the district's farmers were busy growing winter vegetables, working constantly on seedbeds, raising seedlings, planting and tending.

He said that although there had been some damage from Cyclone Sitrang, farmers were working hard to bring early winter vegetables to market. The agriculture department and its officers are giving them the advice they need in the field, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.