Winter vegetables have produced a bumper harvest in the char (river sandbar) areas of Faridpur. Seedlings of various winter vegetable varieties are selling briskly even before winter arrives, flooding markets across the char areas with new seedlings. Growers and entrepreneurs expect to sell seedlings worth 20 to 25 crore taka this season.
The information was gathered from interviews with growers, entrepreneurs, farmers, labourers and year-round cultivators across four districts.
Growers and entrepreneurs in the remote Padma char areas of North Channel and Dikrichar unions in Faridpur Sadar upazila are in the most upbeat mood. They said this year’s vegetable harvest was a bumper crop across eight points in the char. If the weather stays favourable, they expect to sell at least 17 to 18 crore taka worth of vegetables before and after winter. Farmers and vegetable growers also expect their fortunes to turn with the production of seedlings for improved varieties of eggplant and other vegetables.
Sales of early winter seedlings of various new varieties began Friday (September 11) across 20 to 25 chars in 20 upazilas of the four districts in the Faridpur region. Demand is highest for farmer-grown improved varieties of eggplant, tomato, green chilli, cauliflower, cabbage, turnip, Chinese cabbage, bean, bottle gourd and Indian spinach seedlings — at least 10 to 12 winter varieties in total — and sales have picked up sharply.
Every year, early winter vegetables reach the market around the time of the Durga Puja festival, ahead of winter, and farmers expect this year to be no different.
Seedlings and plants of numerous winter vegetable varieties are rising visibly across the vast char areas of Rajbari, Shibchar in Madaripur, Shariatpur, and Faridpur Sadar, Sadarpur and Charbhadrasan.
Large markets for new winter seedlings are being held in the char areas of Kutubpur, Kanthalbari Ghat, Daiyarchar, Sannashirchar, Munshirchar and Gabtola Bazar in Madaripur’s Shibchar upazila, with brisk sales underway. Activity picks up at these seedbeds ahead of winter. Buying and selling of winter vegetable seedlings is also rising sharply in the remote char and outlying areas of Ambikapur, Charmadabdia, Maijamiar Dangi and Kamardangi in Faridpur Sadar upazila.
Markets for vegetables and seedlings are also being held across four to five chars and along the Padma riverbank in Faridpur Sadar’s Dikrichar union.
Rows of seedbeds in that union are growing cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, tomato, eggplant and chilli seedlings. After meeting local demand, these seedlings are sent to farmers in various districts across the country. By farmers’ own estimates, seedlings worth 20 to 25 crore taka are sold during this three-to-four-month season.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension offices in Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Rajbari districts, winter vegetable seedlings are produced every year from August to October on about 20,000 hectares across 30 unions in the upazilas of these districts.
Improved, high-yielding varieties of cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, eggplant, chilli and tomato seedlings are produced in these areas. A particular advantage of the char areas is that buyers from various regions can travel by boat and buy seedlings directly from the char seedbeds at low prices, which is why buyers often purchase more from char seedbeds than from city markets. Among greater Faridpur’s char areas, demand is highest for seedlings from Madaripur, Faridpur and Rajbari, which are bought by vegetable growers in neighbouring districts.
After meeting local demand, farmers from Pabna, Dashuria, Savar, Manikganj, Keraniganj, Rangpur, Sylhet, Habiganj, Cumilla, Bhola, Jhalokathi, Barguna and Chandpur, among other districts, buy these seedlings.
Speaking with seedling traders Arman, Kaiyum, Sobahan, Mono and Sujit, they said: “We don’t mind travelling far to get good-quality seedlings. It’s painful when we buy seedlings but don’t get a good yield.”
A visit to Kanaipur — known as Faridpur’s vegetable capital — as well as the remote areas of Charbhadrasan, Krishnapur and Gajaria in Sadarpur, Jatrabari, Nijgram, and the Dikrichar and North Channel areas of Sadar upazila found most seedbeds covered with bamboo matting.
Beneath the matting, rows of seedbeds are growing tomato, eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, bottle gourd, pumpkin and chilli seedlings. In some places, farmers were removing the matting to water the seedlings; elsewhere, some were clearing weeds while others were busy preparing new seedbeds.
Hasan, a grower in the Kanaipur area, has set up 100 raised beds. He said each round of seedlings from a single bed sells for at least 80,000 taka, and he grows two to three rounds per season — bringing in 50 to 60 lakh taka in seedling sales from his beds each season. Nowsher of MP Dangi in Charbhadrasan said: “Seedling production in the seedbeds begins from the second week of August. The rush of sales starts from the second week of September. Seedlings are produced and sold in three to four rounds through to mid-December.”
How the seedling trade grew
Interviews with at least 25 farmers and agricultural labourers involved in seedling production found that the Faridpur region has produced and sold winter vegetable seedlings since before independence. The trade gradually expanded over time. Farmers began producing improved-variety seedlings using oil cake, organic manure and measured chemical fertiliser. Over time, the reputation of Faridpur’s seedlings spread to different parts of the country, creating demand in another 12 to 13 districts beyond Faridpur.
Farmers say seedling production in the seedbeds begins from the second week of August, with the rush of sales starting from the second week of September. Production and sales continue in three to four rounds through to mid-December.
A. Haque, a seedling trader in the North Channel area of Faridpur Sadar upazila, said: “Improved-variety seeds are used in the char seedbeds.”