Many people have forgotten what their village used to be called. Can that happen? It certainly can. Everyone has clean forgotten the names of several villages in Tetuljhora union of Savar in Bangladesh. Those villages now have one name and one identity: the "China vegetable village".

Why did this happen? Farmers in that part of Savar used to grow ordinary winter vegetables. Then demand for Chinese food rose sharply in Dhaka and other cities, creating a need for various foreign vegetables, and so farmers in these Savar villages began growing them.

Gradually the foreign vegetables began to bring good profits, and most farmers in the villages have now taken to growing them. China vegetables are being grown on about 80 hectares in Savar.

What is being grown? Savar's farmers are cultivating 22 kinds of foreign vegetables, including broccoli, capsicum, China leaf, Changching onion and pink cabbage.

Commercial farming of foreign vegetables is now hugely popular in Savar. Many have succeeded with it, including unemployed young people from South Meitka village in the upazila's Tetuljhora union. Farmers in Bhakurta, Kaundia and Dhamsona unions are also turning to foreign vegetables and earning good profits.

With demand rising, many people in Savar are growing these vegetables on their rooftops too. After meeting local demand, the produce is sold to Chinese restaurants and five-star hotels in Dhaka, Chattogram and other areas. Savar's vegetables are also in high demand at the wholesale depots of Karwan Bazar in the capital.

Source: Online Desk. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.