Exporters allege bribery at every step of the government's only central packing house at Shyampur, while projects worth hundreds of crores have left it without a working lab.
Bean farmers in Ishwardi, Pabna, spend thousands of taka a bigha on pesticide, adding up to some Tk 7 crore a year, as officials warn of harm to health and soil.
Okra that Ishwardi farmers sell for Tk 15 a kg reaches Dhaka consumers at Tk 40-50 or more, with middlemen taking the gap.
Farmers in Mirsarai, Chattogram, are profiting from summer yardlong beans, with good yields and prices drawing more growers to the crop.
The Bengali month of Ashwin is the time to prepare soil and seedbeds and sow winter vegetables, in fields and rooftop gardens alike.
Pesticide-free kakrol from two safe vegetable villages in Kaliganj, Gazipur, is being sold in Dhaka and exported to the Middle East.
Bitter gourd farming has changed the fortunes of more than a hundred families in Hatchhala village of Shyamnagar, Satkhira, which now sells about 300 maunds a day.
Abdul Mannan, a young farmer in Mirsharai, Chattogram, is earning well from Red Lady papaya grown between his mango trees, and others are following his lead.
A farmer in Alfadanga, Faridpur, has accused rivals of destroying his winter vegetable seedbed overnight, a loss he puts at about Tk 3 lakh.
With favourable weather and good prices, farmers in Fulbari, Dinajpur, have started growing cauliflower ahead of the usual season.
A 23-year-old honours student from a remote Bogura village earns about Tk 40,000 a month from a mushroom centre he built with family help.
Beans are a popular, protein-rich vegetable in Bangladesh, and the best time to sow them is from the Bengali month of Asar to Bhadra.
Bottle gourd, rich in calcium and vitamin C, can be sown twice a year, and careful fertiliser, irrigation and weeding can bring 140–150 kg a decimal.
