With no floods or heavy rain this season, Lalmonirhat has had a bumper crop of cauliflower. After meeting local demand, the cauliflower is being sent to Dhaka and other districts, and farmers are pleased with the good prices. Alongside cauliflower, they have grown early varieties of cabbage, aubergine, radish, red amaranth, spinach, coriander, tomato and pointed gourd.

Early vegetables are grown widely every year in the Sadar, Aditmari, Kaliganj and Patgram upazilas of Lalmonirhat.

In Baura Hosnabad village of Patgram upazila, cauliflower sales begin at dawn. Wholesalers come from various districts. Men and women farmers gather the cauliflowers from the fields in groups, and they are weighed and sold.

Fatema Akter of Baura village in Patgram said: "I leased four bighas and grew cauliflower. The yield has been good. To get a better price, my husband and I are taking the cauliflower by truck to Karwan Bazar in Dhaka."

Farmers say there was little disease this year, so early cauliflower yielded a bumper crop and they are earning more than in other years. Demand has risen because the crop is early, and higher market prices are benefiting growers. Farmers are selling cauliflower wholesale at Tk 40-50 a kg, or Tk 20-25 a piece.

Mohir Uddin, a cauliflower grower from Hosnabad village in Patgram, said: "I grew cauliflower on five and a half bighas at a cost of Tk 1.5 lakh. I hope to sell Tk 4 lakh worth. The yield is better than in other years."

Vegetable trader Liton said: "Every day we send truckloads of farmers' cauliflower to different districts. Demand is huge right now, prices are good and growers are making a profit."

According to the Lalmonirhat Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), cauliflower seedlings are planted in August, right after the monsoon and before winter, and the crop can be harvested until February. This year cauliflower has been grown on 220 hectares in the district. With good yields in a short time and higher profits, many farmers are now turning to cauliflower.

Dr Md Saikhul Arifin, deputy director of the DAE in Lalmonirhat, said that although Lalmonirhat is a Teesta-washed district, most of its land is high, and medium-high land is suitable for vegetables. A fair amount of early vegetables has been grown. Vegetables are relatively scarce right after the monsoon and just before winter, so those who grow early vegetables now will certainly get good prices, he said.

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