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Rangpur farmers getting fair price of vegetables


By BSS
Published : 01 Oct 2022 08:23 PM

Farmers are very happy getting an excellent production of vegetables during the just-ended Kharif-1 season with fair prices in Rangpur agriculture region.

 Market sources said farmers are selling their harvested Kharif-1 vegetables at excellent rates between Taka 35 and 100 per kilogram depending on varieties and qualities to local middlemen and wholesalers.

 However, retailers are selling the vegetables at rates between Taka 45 and 120 per kilogram after purchasing those from wholesalers and middlemen across the region.

 Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said farmers achieved an excellent output of 4,89,044 tonnes of vegetables after completing harvest during the last Kharif-1 season and they are getting fair prices of their produces in the region.

 Earlier, the DAE had fixed a target of producing 5,94,380 tonnes of summer vegetables from 31,395 hectares of land for all five districts in Rangpur agriculture region during the last Kharif-1 season.

 “However, farmers cultivated vegetables on 27,150 hectares of land, less by 4,245 hectares of land against the fixed farming target due to crop diversification,” said Additional Director of DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Md. Emdad Hossain Sheikh.

Farmers cultivated vegetables on 10,700 hectares of land in Rangpur, 5,000 hectares in Gaibandha, 4,035 hectares in Kurigram, 4,990 hectares in Lalmonirhat and 2,425 hectares of land in Nilphamari districts during the last Kharif-1 season.

“After completing harvest last week, farmers produced 4,89,044 tonnes of vegetables at an excellent average yield rate of 18.01 tonnes per hectare of land,” Hossain said.

The DAE and other organisations and institutes, commercial banks and NGOs supplied high quality seeds, inputs, easy-term agri-loan and assistance to farmers to make the vegetables cultivation program successful.

After getting repeated bumper production with rewarding prices, farmers are cultivating vegetables on more lands and many of them have achieved self-reliance from farming vegetables thrice during the Rabi, Kharif-1 and Kharif-2 seasons annually.

“At the same time, farmers have cultivated summer vegetables on 14,135 hectares of land during the current Kharif-2 season in the region and already started harvesting their cultivated vegetables and getting lucrative prices,” Hossain added.

 Senior Coordinator (Agriculture and Environment) of RDRS Bangladesh Agriculturist Mamunur Rashid said cultivation of vegetables on crop lands, homesteads and char areas has already become a profitable scheme for farmers in recent years.

 “Braving the adverse impacts of climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic, farmers cultivated summer vegetables successfully during the last Rabi and Kharif-1 seasons and achieved excellent output with fair prices in the region,” Rashid added.

 Vegetable retailer Fazlur Rahman at Keranipara Kitchen Market in Rangpur city said farmers sold Kharif-1 vegetables at rates between Taka 35 and 100 per kilogram on an average depending on varieties and quality to the middlemen and wholesalers.

 “Retail prices were, however, higher by Taka 15 to Taka 20 per kilogram on an average in local markets as some vegetables perished during the transportation and marketing process,” Rahman added.

 Vegetable farmers Abdul Hamid, Mohibur Rahman, Manik Miah, Solaiman Ali and Amenur Rahman of different villages in Rangpur Sadar upazila said they got excellent production of vegetables and fair prices during the last Kharif-1 season.