SYLHET, Jan 02: Some 85,924 hectares of land have been brought under the farming of varieties of Rabi crops in all the four districts of Sylhet division.
Of the total area, highest 55,541 hectares are of vegetables of all kinds.
Bottle gourd, sweet gourd, radish, bean, tomato, cucumber, red spinach, pumpkin, cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal, taro, onion, garlic, groundnut, sugarcane, sunflower and watermelon are the most popular among the peasants in the district.
An official at the DAE said most of the farmers are now busy in their cropland. They work hard from morning till evening to get good yield.
Vegetable farmers have already started harvesting their produce and other crop growers will begin harvest within February next.
Besides, potato has so far been cultivated on 7231 hectares of land in the division, while sweet potato on 1,274 hectares, wheat on 1,344 hectares, maize on 679 hectares, mustard on 7,016 hectares, coriander on 2765 hectares, chilli on 2,807 hectares, mashkalai on 1,300 hectares, French bean on 3,320 hectare and groundnut on 256 hectares of land.
In addition to these, onion has been cultivated on 506 hectares, watermelon on 810 hectares and garlic on 305 hectares of land.
The farmers in many areas had also been involved at large scale with the vegetable farming on commercial basis, he added.
BSS adds: In Rajshahi, farmers are happy with production of vegetables and its market price during the current winter season everywhere in the region including its vast Barind tract.
At present, local wholesale and retail markets both in rural and urban areas have become abundant with varieties of winter vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, beans, tomato and potato. Production of vegetables is now being adjudged as one of the major income-generating activities in the region.
Marginal farmers and poor people in the region are mostly engaged in this venture of producing different vegetables through the best use of spaces around homesteads almost round the year.
Various government and non-government entities concerned including the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) are extending necessary cooperation including training and inputs to the farmers.
DAE has set a target of producing more than 1.64 million tonnes of vegetables from 82,315 hectares of land in eight districts in Rajshahi division.
On-Farm Research Division (OFRD) of BARI has been implementing various types of need-based programmes to help farmers produce traditional fruits and vegetables round the year.
Various other agriculture-related departments and institutions have taken adequate steps to assist the framers in making the winter vegetables' farming programme more profitable and successful.
Side by side with Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, various public and private commercial banks and NGOs disbursed easy-term agriculture loans among the farmers to make the winter vegetable farming programme a total success.
Mosharraf Hossain, a farmer of Nawhata Sheepur village under Paba upazila, said he cultivated cauliflower and cabbage on three bighas of land after taking it on lease at a cost of Tk 15,000.