With the weather favourable, cauliflower farming has begun in Fulbari upazila of Dinajpur this year even before the season starts. Farmers are busy tending their fields, some weeding, some spraying pesticide and some irrigating. Many are also busy planting fresh winter vegetable seedlings.
Saheb Babu, a riverside farmer in Rajarampur village of Shibnagar union in Fulbari upazila, has planted cauliflower seedlings on 99 decimals of land this year.
He said he is growing cauliflower on land beside Amdungi haat, where seven labourers are now applying fertiliser and weeding. Farm workers in the village usually have no work at this time of year, so early cauliflower farming has created jobs for them, and he also hopes to make a profit.
Hoping for Tk 2 lakh profit
"Cauliflower is a 60-day crop," Saheb Babu said. "I have planted 20,000 seedlings. Until harvest, tilling, fertiliser, pesticide, weeding and labour will cost Tk 2 lakh. If I sell each cauliflower for Tk 20, the 20,000 will fetch Tk 4 lakh. I hope to make a profit of Tk 2 lakh after costs."
Sharifuddin, another farmer from Patakpara Bazar village in the upazila, has planted cauliflower on three bighas and aubergine, pointed gourd, ridge gourd and yardlong bean on 10 kathas. "The weather is good this time. One rabi crop or another will surely bring a profit," he said.
A tour of markets in the upazila shows that beans, cabbage, cauliflower, ridge gourd, aubergine, radish and several other early winter vegetables have already arrived. Prices are higher than in other years, and good prices have increased farmers' interest in growing winter vegetables, with the weather also in their favour.
Target of 1,750 hectares
According to the upazila Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) office, three rivers, large and small, flow through the upazila, leaving extensive silt land suitable for vegetables. Fulbari upazila has 490 hectares of land suitable for vegetables, of which 55 hectares are under cauliflower in the current Kharif-2 season.
Upazila agricultural extension officer Md Shahanur Alam said early vegetables bring more profit. Less rain this year made early planting possible; winter vegetable farming usually begins in the Bengali month of Kartik. A target of 1,750 hectares has been set for vegetable farming in the upazila this season.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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