Growing vegetable exports rekindle hopes in Comilla farmers
The export volume of the chemical-free vegetables keeps rising, bringing smiles back to the farmers’ faces
Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
UNB
Publish : 25 Oct 2021, 03:20 PMUpdate : 29 Dec 2021, 12:52 PM
Comilla's vegetable growers had always been concerned about their produce due to a lack of marketing and storage facilities, but their fortunes have recently turned around.
It all began with when they started exporting vegetables to the Middle East and Europe with the help of a government marketing centre.
A huge quantity of vegetables are now being exported from Nimsar Bazar in Comilla, the largest wholesale vegetable market of the country, said farmers.
These vegetables are collected from 400 marginal farmers who have formed 20 associations with the help of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
The export volume of the chemical-free vegetables keeps rising, bringing smiles back to the farmers’ faces.
On average, the district exports seven tons of vegetables each month, with a peak of 10 tons in the winter, according to the Agricultural Products Procurement and Marketing Centre located at Nimsar Bazar.
Vegetables like arum lobe, bottle gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, snake bean, bitter gourd, luffa gourd, malabar spinach, red spinach and eggplant are exported to the Middle East and European countries.
Sajeeb Molla, an official at Agricultural Products Procurement and Marketing Centre in Comilla, said in September, they exported 4,620kgs of arum lobe to the UK and Italy, 1,015kgs of bottle gourd to Italy, 220kgs of cucumber to the UK, 220kgs of pumpkin to Italy.
According to the DAE, the district has planted vegetables on 21,090 hectares of land and produced 472,374 tons of vegetables this year.
The district only requires 150,000 tons of vegetables to meet local needs. Several hundred tons of vegetables are supplied to Dhaka, Chittagong, Noakhali, Feni, Lakshmipur, and Chandpur districts, said DAE officials.
During a recent visit to Barira, Nimsar in Burichang and Purba Ramchandrapur in Chandina upazila of the district, the UNB correspondent found that vegetable growers were preparing their produce for export.
They told UNB that they once used to have issues with low prices at local markets because of the supply glut, but they can now easily sell their produce at fair rates at the farmers' markets.
Mostafa Kamal, general secretary of the farmers’ market at East Ramchandrapur in Chandina upazila said: “With 60 members, a farmer's association has been founded, which sends high-quality vegetables to Hortex Foundation for export after collecting them from the members.”
Manjurul Hannan, managing director of Hortex Foundation, said: “We encourage farmers to produce organic and pesticide-free vegetables. We’re working for the development of the country as well as the farmers.”
Mizanur Rahman, deputy director at Comilla DAE, said “DAE has taken various steps to export vegetables abroad. A vegetable collection centre has been set up at Nimsar Bazar and farmers’ associations have been formed to ensure the collection of quality vegetables.”
“Also, we’ve taken a plan to build cold storage here for preserving vegetables. We will also arrange necessary training for them,” he said.
Government roadmaps for export
The government has drafted two roadmaps to boost the country’s annual export volume of agricultural goods to two billion US dollars within the next two fiscal years.
A views-exchange meeting over the draft roadmaps was held at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium in Dhaka recently. Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque was present at the event as the chief guest.
A committee, formed by the Ministry of Agriculture in June last, prepared the two draft roadmaps -- one to boost the export of vegetables and fruits and another to raise the potato export.
The draft roadmaps identified some major barriers and placed a number of recommendations over boosting the export of vegetables, potatoes, fruits and processed agricultural goods.
If the recommendations can be implemented, it would be possible to raise the export earnings from agricultural goods to US$ 1.634 billion in the current fiscal year (2021-22) and US$ 2 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to one of the roadmaps.
Another roadmap states that it would be possible to export 80,000 tons of potato in 2022, 120,000 tons in 2023, 180,000 tons in 2024 and 250,000 tons in 2025.
Growing vegetable exports rekindle hopes in Comilla farmers
Comilla's vegetable growers had always been concerned about their produce due to a lack of marketing and storage facilities, but their fortunes have recently turned around.
It all began with when they started exporting vegetables to the Middle East and Europe with the help of a government marketing centre.
A huge quantity of vegetables are now being exported from Nimsar Bazar in Comilla, the largest wholesale vegetable market of the country, said farmers.
These vegetables are collected from 400 marginal farmers who have formed 20 associations with the help of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
The export volume of the chemical-free vegetables keeps rising, bringing smiles back to the farmers’ faces.
On average, the district exports seven tons of vegetables each month, with a peak of 10 tons in the winter, according to the Agricultural Products Procurement and Marketing Centre located at Nimsar Bazar.
Vegetables like arum lobe, bottle gourd, pumpkin, cucumber, snake bean, bitter gourd, luffa gourd, malabar spinach, red spinach and eggplant are exported to the Middle East and European countries.
Sajeeb Molla, an official at Agricultural Products Procurement and Marketing Centre in Comilla, said in September, they exported 4,620kgs of arum lobe to the UK and Italy, 1,015kgs of bottle gourd to Italy, 220kgs of cucumber to the UK, 220kgs of pumpkin to Italy.
According to the DAE, the district has planted vegetables on 21,090 hectares of land and produced 472,374 tons of vegetables this year.
The district only requires 150,000 tons of vegetables to meet local needs. Several hundred tons of vegetables are supplied to Dhaka, Chittagong, Noakhali, Feni, Lakshmipur, and Chandpur districts, said DAE officials.
During a recent visit to Barira, Nimsar in Burichang and Purba Ramchandrapur in Chandina upazila of the district, the UNB correspondent found that vegetable growers were preparing their produce for export.
They told UNB that they once used to have issues with low prices at local markets because of the supply glut, but they can now easily sell their produce at fair rates at the farmers' markets.
Mostafa Kamal, general secretary of the farmers’ market at East Ramchandrapur in Chandina upazila said: “With 60 members, a farmer's association has been founded, which sends high-quality vegetables to Hortex Foundation for export after collecting them from the members.”
Manjurul Hannan, managing director of Hortex Foundation, said: “We encourage farmers to produce organic and pesticide-free vegetables. We’re working for the development of the country as well as the farmers.”
Mizanur Rahman, deputy director at Comilla DAE, said “DAE has taken various steps to export vegetables abroad. A vegetable collection centre has been set up at Nimsar Bazar and farmers’ associations have been formed to ensure the collection of quality vegetables.”
“Also, we’ve taken a plan to build cold storage here for preserving vegetables. We will also arrange necessary training for them,” he said.
Government roadmaps for export
The government has drafted two roadmaps to boost the country’s annual export volume of agricultural goods to two billion US dollars within the next two fiscal years.
A views-exchange meeting over the draft roadmaps was held at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium in Dhaka recently. Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque was present at the event as the chief guest.
A committee, formed by the Ministry of Agriculture in June last, prepared the two draft roadmaps -- one to boost the export of vegetables and fruits and another to raise the potato export.
The draft roadmaps identified some major barriers and placed a number of recommendations over boosting the export of vegetables, potatoes, fruits and processed agricultural goods.
If the recommendations can be implemented, it would be possible to raise the export earnings from agricultural goods to US$ 1.634 billion in the current fiscal year (2021-22) and US$ 2 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to one of the roadmaps.
Another roadmap states that it would be possible to export 80,000 tons of potato in 2022, 120,000 tons in 2023, 180,000 tons in 2024 and 250,000 tons in 2025.