Vegetable sapling demand takes a nosedive

Growers of vegetable saplings in two unions of Nazirpur and Nesarabad upazilas are counting huge losses due to the flood this year.

Farmers in Kalardoaniya union of Nazirpur and Balodia union of Nesarabad are well known for growing saplings of different varieties of winter vegetables on floating seedbeds in marshlands in the area.

Around 215 hectares of marshlands in the two unions are used for producing vegetable saplings, according to data received from Department of Agricultural Extension in Pirojpur.

The demand for the saplings dropped significantly while vegetable fields remain flooded in a large swath of land in the district as well as elsewhere in the country. 

It costs around Tk 9 thousand to make a 180-foot-by 4-foot floating seedbed with water hyacinth and other aquatic plants. About 2,000 saplings can be grown on a seedbed, with a thickness of nearly two feet.

Between June and October, various saplings of winter vegetables including bean, tomato, beet, pumpkin, bitter gourd, papaya, aubergine or brinjal and chilli are grown on the seedbeds, the growers said.

After the saplings are ready for sale in about a month's time, wholesale buyers buy the saplings from the growers and transport those on boats across the country.

The process can be repeated a maximum of five times during the wet season, said farmer Mizanur Rahman from Gagan village in Nesarabad upazila.

But with agricultural land inundated in floodwaters in Pirojpur, the demand for saplings has plummeted, he added.

Mohammad Ibrahim, another sapling grower from the same village, said a large number of wholesale buyers arrive at their village for the saplings every year, but this year, the picture is gloomy as only a handful of them turned up for the saplings.

He also said that if vegetable farmers are unable to prepare their land for cultivation again after the floodwater recedes completely, the sapling growers might suffer massive losses this year.

The vegetable saplings planted by farmers are damaged in the floods, while the saplings on their seedbeds have become unfit for sale as those, left unsold for long, have grown too tall, said sapling grower Saidul Islam from Mugarjhor village in Nazirpur upazila.

Prodip Kumar Sikder, sub-assistant agriculture officer for Mugarjhor block in Nazirpur upazila, acknowledged the situation and said that the farmers this year might be able to grow saplings only three times.