Vegetable farming on floating farm beds lucrative for Gopalganj farmers

Vegetable cultivation on floating farm beds has been a source of additional and lucrative income for farmers in Gopalganj and this year about 1,650 of them are expecting high prices from the crops produced using this farming technique.

Officials at the Department of Agricultural Extension, Gopalganj, said about 39 hectares of floating farm beds have been brought under vegetable cultivation with a production target of 528 tonnes, which have a market price of Tk 211.20 billion.

As much as 1,187 male and female farmers involved in the farming practice are from Tungipara and Kotalipara upazilas, where about 5,553 farm beds (about 25 hectares) are being used to grow red amaranth, okra, pumpkin, radish, malabar spinach, gourd, turmeric, carrot, yardlong bean, cucumber, aurm, tomato etc.

Md Rakibul Islam, upazila agriculture officer (UAO), Tungipara, said most of the farmers do not have a source of income during the rainy season, thus, the crops cultivated on rafts provide them financial support.

The UAO said a total of 4,420 rafts (19 hectares) have been brought under vegetable cultivation this rainy season. If the weather remains favourable, 915 farmers will produce about 257 tonnes of vegetables on floating farm beds in Tungipara this monsoon, which has a market price of Tk102.08, according to the UAO.

Rabin Mondal, 48, a farmer of Mitrodanga village under Gopalpur Union of Gopalganj's Tungipara, said, he has been cultivating vegetables on floating farm beds for about five years and he have been getting a good price from his produce.

He said that on average he sold most of the cultivated vegetables at Tk 40 to Tk 45 per kilogram on average.

Grower Sukti Kirtonia, 55, of Baladanga village in Tungipara's Gopalpur said he farmed vegetables on 60 beds (0.75 hectares) in the current rainy season and have been getting a satisfactory return so far. He said that he already got Tk 110,000 from the produce sold this year and the remaining will bring about Tk 60,000. Romendra Nath Haldar, sub assistant agriculture officer, Kotalipara, Gopalganj, said farming vegetables on rafts is more profitable because the return is significant within a short duration after a small investment. He further said that farmers are getting a high price for their produce due to vegetable shortage in the markets during rainy season.

Farmer Dulal Bashu, 45, of Burua village in Kotalipara's Kalabarn said he has been farming vegetables like okra on 30 floating beds for the past three years starting every rainy season. He said if the weather remains favourable, he will get 52 maunds of okra this year, which has a market price of about Tk 166,000.

Stating that each kilogram of okra is being sold at Tk 80 to Tk 90, farmer Dulal said he spent about Tk 65,000 for cultivating okra on his 30 beds.

Sanjoy Kumar Kundu, additional deputy director, Khamarbari, Gopalganj, told the FE that vegetable cultivation on rafts is an additional income source for remote farmers in Gopalganj.

He also said spending Tk 700 to Tk 1000 per bed, farmers can sell their produce at Tk 2,800 to Tk 3,000, generating a good profit.

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