Three farmers in Mirsharai, Chattogram, have succeeded in growing coloured cauliflower for the first time. They grew it as demonstrations for the upazila agriculture office. People crowd their fields every day to see the new cauliflower, and the farmers are happy with prices higher than for ordinary cauliflower and cabbage. They want to grow more in future.

The Mirsharai upazila agriculture office said two farmers in Hinguli union and one in Khaiyachhara union each grew 300 coloured cauliflowers as demonstrations, succeeding at the first attempt. They want to grow it on more land in future.

Mosharaf Hossain of East Hinguli in Hinguli union said: "With the agriculture office's help I grew 300 coloured cauliflowers for the first time. The yield was good and sales are almost finished. The agriculture officials always helped me with advice. I grow various vegetables all year round, including bottle gourd, beans, aubergine, yardlong beans, radish, tomato, chilli and broccoli."

Jasim Uddin of Azamnagar in the upazila said: "I succeeded with coloured cauliflower the first time. The yield was good, though a few plants produced white heads. When I planted it, many said it would not do well and asked who would buy it if it tasted bad. I did not lose heart; I was confident I could sell it in the market. I got a good response, and now local farmers are interested after seeing mine."

Mirsharai upazila agriculture officer Protap Chandra Roy said: "For the first time we gave three farmers in Hinguli and Khaiyachhara unions 300 seedlings each, 1,200 in all. They did well by following our advice. Seeing them, many farmers are showing interest in coloured cauliflower. We are hopeful cultivation will increase widely."

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