Good prices bring smile to brinjal growers

The brinjal growers in the district are happy to get good prices of the vegetable amid high demand during this Ramadan,

"Now we are selling one kg of brinjal for Tk 20 to 22 in the field but we sold it for Tk 8 to 10 just before the Ramadan. I have already sold 800 kg of brinjal from my two bighas of land and hope to sell more 500 kg during this holy month," said brinjal grower Mansur Ali at Fulgachh village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila.

"A farmer can get 600 to 800 kg of brinjal from each bigha of land and the cultivation cost stands between Tk 2000 to 2500. Due to favourable weather we have got good yield of brinjal, and we are also getting its fair prices," said Atoar Rahman, another brinjal grower of the same village.

"We all the six family members work together for farming brinjal and other vegetables in our 50 decimals of lands. Mainly we use vermicompost, and sometime we use pesticides to kill the insects in the brinjal field," said Nur Hossain of Durakuti village in Lalmonirhat Sadar.

"I have already earned Tk 14 thousand from selling 700 kg of brinjal and hope to earn Tk 6 thousand more from selling the remaining brinjal in the field," he said.

A brinjal retailer at Durakuti Bazar in Lalmonirhat Sadar said they purchase brinjal from the growers in the field, and sell it for Tk 25 to 28 per kg in the local market.

"Brinjal chop is a favourite iftar item of my family and so, I purchase brinjal regularly," said Rafiqul Islam, a schoolteacher at Saptana in the town.

Abdus Salam, a wholesaler of brinjal at vegetable market Goshala Bazar in Lalmonirhat town, said he and other wholesalers in the area sent the best quality brinjals to capital Dhaka and other parts of the country this time.

After the month of Ramadan, the price of the vegetable will fall, he said.

Brinjal is mainly a winter vegetable but many farmers cultivate this crop during off period to earn good profit, said sources of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Lalmonirhat, adding that this time brinjal has been cultivated on 700 hectares of land in the district.