Rain delays early vegetable farming

Early cultivation of vegetables in Nazirpur upazila of the district has been delayed by over one month this year due to excessive rain last month.

The upazila is specially known for its early vegetables, which are sent to different areas of the district and to other districts.

“Every year, we grow different varieties of early winter vegetables and our gardens remain full during this time. But we have not been able to sell them as we could not grow them in time due to excessive rainfall during the planting season,”  said Tuhin Mollah of Baniary village in the upazila.

They planted seeds several times, but the rain destroyed them and delayed production, said farmer Amal Biswas.

Prices of vegetables are high due to the crisis of vegetable supply in the market. Brinjal is being sold for over Tk 50 per kg, while tomato and bean are sold for over Tk 60 per kg. The prices of other vegetables are also about the same. One bundle of leafy vegetables is sold for over Tk 20.

Farmers said the prices of seasonal vegetables increased two to three times more than in previous years as they could not grow vegetables in time.

One kg of brinjal was sold for Tk 20 to Tk 25 last year, but the price increased by around two to three times this year, and it is same for other vegetables, said farmer Ripan Sikder.

Sub-Assistant Upazila Agriculture Officer Bijan Krishna Howlader said if the weather remains favourable, the farmers will be able to recover the loss.

Vegetables are mostly grown on the bed of fish enclosures in the upazila, he said, adding that vegetables have been cultivated on around 150 hectares of land this year and over 6,000 families are involved with the profession.