Farmers in Manikganj are busy raising winter vegetable seedlings and preparing seedbeds. In Singair, Saturia, Ghior and Sadar, four of the district's seven upazilas, they are working day and night preparing and tending seedbeds of cauliflower, cabbage, aubergine, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, radish, cucumber, pointed gourd, red amaranth, spinach and other vegetables. Hoping for bigger profits at lower cost, they are turning to early varieties.

According to the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the vegetable cultivation target for the last Kharif-2 season was 2,676 hectares, with a production target of 52,155 tonnes, and the yield was 1,949 tonnes per hectare. This season's cultivation target is 2,496 hectares, and farmers are already active raising seedlings and preparing seedbeds.

In the fields, farmers are at different stages of the work. Some are ploughing, some applying fertiliser or pesticide, some focusing on pest control, and others busy preparing seedbeds.

Abdur Razzak, a vegetable farmer of Partilli in Saturia upazila, said he was preparing to grow cauliflower, cabbage and other vegetables on 8 bighas this year. He has already raised seedlings in eight beds on one bigha and is now lifting seedlings from the seedbed and transplanting them into the field.

Vegetable farmer Torab Ali said: "This year I will grow bitter gourd on 1 bigha, bottle gourd on 15 decimals and aubergine on one and a half bighas. The bottle gourd seedlings have been planted. Now I am preparing the seedbed for bitter gourd; many people call it making the 'mother'. I am growing a little early because vegetable prices are a bit higher at the start of winter. If I can sell then, I will see a profit."

Dr Bariah Nur Ahmed, deputy director of the Manikganj DAE, said: "Early production will meet buyers' demand in the market, and farmers will also profit. The agriculture department is giving vegetable growers regular advice on this."

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