Production of high-yield vegetable seedlings using the poly house method has begun in Sunamganj. Vegetable farmers have already started growing winter vegetables with modern seedlings from the house, and farmers hit by floods are trying to recover by getting seedlings cheaply.
Shah Alam, a farmer in Palash union of Bishwambharpur upazila in Sunamganj, has set up an establishment called Poly House on one acre of land. In this modern poly house, seeds are sown in plastic trays in processed and sterilised cocopeat made from coconut coir instead of soil. A shade net overhead is used to control the temperature artificially.
Seedlings ready in 20 days
Seedlings raised here are ready to transplant after 20 days. Farmers from various upazilas of the district are already buying tomato, cauliflower, sweet pumpkin and other seedlings raised by the house's modern method. Each seedling sells for Tk 3 up to a maximum of Tk 30.
Poly house owner and farmer Shah Alam told Jago News: "Because of excessive rain and untimely floods, farmers cannot keep seedlings. That is why I thought of this alternative. I have already sold about Tk 4 lakh worth of tomato, cauliflower and other seedlings to farmers."
About 2 lakh farmers have started growing winter vegetables across Sunamganj's 12 upazilas this season. Farmers are pleased to get seedlings more easily this year than in other years, and the poly house has created jobs for about 45 people.
Haor farmer Sonai Mia told Jago News: "Modern vegetable seedlings are very useful to farmers. Most farmers in the district are already growing winter vegetables with these seedlings."
Bimal Chandra Som, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Sunamganj, told Jago News: "Through these seedlings produced by a modern process, the target of growing vegetables on 12,000 hectares in the district will be met. And if there is no further natural disaster in this downstream district, vegetables worth about a thousand crore taka will be produced."
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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