Early yield brinjal delights CHT growers
Bumper yield of early variety of brinjal has brought smiles to hill farmers in the district.
Over 50 farmers of Gamaridhala village in Sadar upazila have cultivated brinjal on 50 bighas of land. The growers are happy as they are getting fair prices for the early variety of the vegetable.
Brinjal farmers usually start planting seedlings at this time of the year while the hill growers are selling the vegetable at high prices in the market, said officials of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Khagrachhari.
During a recent visit to the area, this correspondent found the farmers harvesting brinjal from their land.
Vermicompost fertilisers have been used instead of chemical fertilizers to increase soil fertility, said farmers of the village.
Grower Debang Chakma of Gamaridhala village said he has been cultivating early variety of brinjal for the last four years following the advice of local DAE officials.
This year, he cultivated brinjal on one bigha of land by spending Tk 25,000. He hopes that if the weather is favourable, he will earn Tk one lakh from the produce.
Juni Talukdar, a farmer of the same village, said early yield brinjal is now being sold at Tk 50 per kg at wholesale markets.
Fair price of early variety of brinjal has inspired farmers to bring it under cultivation. Due to this, number of brinjal land is increasing every year, said Juni.
Niti Bhusan Chakma, assistant agriculture officer of Gamaridhala, said seeing the success of brinjal farmers, they are arranging regular meetings with the growers. At the meetings, the farmers are advised to use less chemical fertiliser and pesticide in the brinjal field. By this time, the farmers have already been encouraged to produce poison-free vegetables.
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