Vegetable production in Bangladesh is growing thanks to the consumers' growing interest in dietary diversity, availability of quality seeds and prospect of profit for farmers, according to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Both agencies estimate increased acreage and production but there is a huge gap in data between the two. However, the agriculture ministry is currently using the DAE estimate on vegetable production.

"Bangladesh is now the third largest producer of vegetables in the world," said Agriculture Secretary Md Sayedul Islam at a press briefing at the agriculture ministry yesterday.

The event was organised ahead of the National Vegetable Fair-2022, to take place from today on the premises of Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) in Dhaka's Farmgate area.

The three-day fair, the sixth of its kind, will conclude on March 2. The vegetable fair will remain open from 10:00am to 8:00pm every day. Some 52 stalls of public and private agencies will take part in the show.

Citing the DAE data, Islam said farmers produced 1.97 crore tonnes of vegetables in fiscal year 2020-21, up from 1.84 crore tonnes the previous year.

Vegetables were grown on 9.35 lakh hectares of land that year, he said.

Islam went on to say that farmers now grow 100 species of vegetables.

The BBS is yet to release its estimate on vegetable production for fiscal year 2020-21 but its estimate for fiscal 2019-20 was 45.74 lakh tonnes, which was one-fourth of the DAE estimate.

Despite the huge gap, there has been an upward trend in production and acreage. For instance, Bangladesh grew vegetables on 9.08 lakh acres of land in fiscal 2009-10 to produce 29.93 lakh tonnes of crops that year, according to the BBS.

Since then, acreage grew 25 per cent while production shot up 53 per cent until the end of fiscal year 2019-20, the BBS data shows.

Contacted, Md Benojir Alam, director general of the DAE, said the DAE data is correct.

"We do not know why they have made the gap but our estimate is right," he said over phone.