Bumper winter vegetable production expected in Netrakona
BSS: Farmers and agriculture officials are expecting bumper production of winter vegetables in the district as the vegetable cultivators have exceeded its cultivation target during the current Rabi season.
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) sources said a massive program had been taken to cultivate winter vegetables in all the ten upazilas of the district this season. According to the programme, a plan has been designed to produce 1,84,331 tonnes of winter vegetables from 7348 hectares of land. But, the farmers have already cultivated winter vegetables on 7,434 hectares of land exceeding the fixed cultivation target. Talking to this BSS correspondent, deputy director of the DAE, Netrakona Mohammad Nuruzzaman said that farmers are showing keen interest for cultivating winter vegetables like cauliflowers, cabbage, bean, cucumber, sweet gourd, bottle gourd, pointed gourd, brinjal, tomato and amaranthus. “Farmers are interesting to cultivate vegetables as the lands of the district are suitable for vegetable cultivation and they can earn more cash money easily by selling their produces in the local markets”, he said. Meanwhile, the government undertaken different programs for ensuring proper supply of improved quality seeds, fertilizers and other agri- inputs at fair prices at the door-steps of the vegetable growers through different state-run agencies including BCIC and BADC, he informed.
Apart from these, the government distributed vegetable seeds worth about taka 11,12,000 as agriculture incentives among the 4000 small and marginal farmers of the district.
The field-level officials and crop specialists of DAE have continued rendering their field-level service to let the vegetable growers know about the modern methods of the vegetable cultivation using latest technologies to reduce production costs, the deputy director added.