<i>Cabbage now can be grown throughout year</i>
Cultivation of a special variety cabbage has become a profitable venture for Chuadanga farmers.
Although traditionally a winter vegetable in Bangladesh, cabbage can now be grown throughout the year, thanks to the initiative of a local NGO that brought KKR variety of cabbage seed from Japan and introduced it to Chuadanga farmers April this year.
Farmers sowed the special variety cabbage seed on around 300 bighas of land in several fields of Jibon Nagar upazila in Chuadanga district, said sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
The fast growing vegetable, harvested within one and a half months of sowing the seed, has already come to the market and farmers are making good profit by selling it.
"I earned Tk 3 lakh by cultivating the vegetable on seven bighas of land. I had spent Tk 70,000 for it," said Shamsul Alam, a farmer of Bazdia village in Jibon Nagar upazila on Thursday.
The production cost of cabbage cultivation per bigha is about Tk 10,000 to 12,000 and the produce is sold for Tk 40,000 to 45,000, growers said.
During visit to some cabbage fields, this correspondent saw good yield of the vegetable, each weighing 2 kg to 4 kg.
People are buying the vegetable as it is available at least six months before its usual season winter, said farmer Sajibul.
The popular nutritious vegetable is also being supplied to other parts of the country including Karwan Bazar, one of the largest wholesale markets in the capital.
Taki and Company in Japan produced and marketed the KKR variety of cabbage seed and it reached farmers in Chuadanga following initiative by local NGO Palashipara Samaj Unnayan Sangstha.
A team from Taki and Company recently visited Chuadanga to examine its production there.
"This variety of cabbage can be cultivated and produced round the year in a country like Bangladesh," Mukaiede Yoko, a vegetable specialist of the company, told this correspondent.
Warm and humid climate condition helped fast growth of the special variety cabbage, said Rezaul Karim, deputy director of Chuadanga DAE.
Warning against excessive use of pesticides to grow the cabbage, he suggested bringing the cultivation under 'integrated pest management' for the sake of safety to public health.
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