Md Anis is past 45 and has been farming for 30 years. Every year he grows various seasonal vegetables. This time he has grown cauliflower and bottle gourd together on his own 3 bighas of land, and is tending them regularly in the hope of extra profit. He believes he will make a profit again this year.

Md Anis lives in Bawramari in Laxmirchar union of Jamalpur Sadar upazila. He has succeeded through farming and supports his family on it. This time he has planted 17,000 cauliflowers across his three fields, and above them, on trellises, 200 bottle gourd seedlings. He will be able to harvest and take them to market within a few days.

The farmer said each of the 17,000 cauliflower seedlings cost Tk 5-6. The 200 gourd seedlings and the trellis cost Tk 25,000. He has spent Tk 90,000 to more than a lakh on the cauliflower so far, and more may be needed. The vegetables are harvested a month and a half after planting; he should be able to harvest the cauliflower within the next 20 days, and the gourd harvest will begin before the cauliflower runs out. He hopes to make a bigger profit from this mixed farming.

"It is possible to sell vegetables worth about Tk 3-4 lakh. In the past I have been making about 50 percent profit. This year I have applied organic fertiliser, TSP and cow dung to the mixed field, and I water the seedlings every three days. The seedlings were planted in mid-October, and I usually harvest the crop at the end of November, at the start of winter," Md Anis said.

Under the care of his helper Sujon, the crop has done well so far. Every year at least 1,000 of the 17,000 to 17,500 cauliflower seedlings are lost, which does not cause much of a problem. Sujon, who works regularly on the field, said: "This time the mixed field has had a bumper yield. We will make a good profit again. So far hardly any seedlings have been lost, and even if a few are, it will not have an impact."

Jamalpur agriculture officer Zakia Sultana said: "Farmers in Jamalpur are currently growing winter crops on 11,700 hectares. We keep in regular touch with them. We do not think only about helping cauliflower and gourd growers; we have to serve growers of all crops. But several farmers are making more profit through mixed cropping. We advise them on getting good yields as well as disease-free cultivation."

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