Bangladesh is slowly coming out of a seasonal barrier in vegetables production mainly, helped by consistent growth in sales and cultivation of hybrid seeds that offer farmers scope to profit from off-season vegetables.

Consumers now get bitter gourd, bottle gourd, carrot, cucumber, eggplant and tomato available almost round the year at retail level. The cultivation of these vegetables had once been only seasonal, stakeholders say.

Other winter vegetables such as cauliflower and cabbage are also available for a longer period in recent years, thanks to farmers' interests to grow hybrid vegetables of early yield varieties to have more margins.

Agriculture ministry officials say hybrid seeds cultivation at an enhanced rate has raised the production of vegetables to 29.17 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2007-08 from 16.87 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2005-06.

“It's an achievement that has become possible mainly because of hybridisation," said Anwar Faruque, director general of Seed Wing at the MinistryofAgriculture.

“The off-season vegetables reward farmers a higher price. For consumers, it's an opportunity to taste vegetables without waiting for the season," he said.

Vegetables seeds, mainly hybrid, now meet almost 40 percent of the annual demand of over 2,600 tonnes with various imported and locally innovated hybrid varieties capable of growing in off-season.

“Once most vegetables seeds had been meant for one season. But we have developed several seed varieties that can grow beyond season," said Mahbub Anam, managing director of Lal Teer Seed, the market leader in the hybrid vegetables seed segment.

He said the hybrid vegetables seeds market now grows about 15 percent a year as it offers farmers higher yield, faster growth and better price.

"There is a good demand for a number of vegetables seeds," Anam said, citing bottle gourd, okra, bitter gourd, radish and cucumber. "Apart from this, demand for eggplant, tomato, cabbage and cauliflower is also high."

“In the past, farmers were not aware of vegetables economics and they were dependant on rice. Now they have realised about making more profits from vegetables cultivations," said Anam.

Increased plantation and sales of hybrid seeds, as a result of marketing strategies of seed companies, have also led to a gradual decline in the cultivation of traditional vegetables.

“This is because farmers can get high yield by using hybrid seeds which can also be planted under different weather conditions," said Sudhir Chandra Nath, programme manager of the agro-marketing division of Brae, which also produces and markets hybrid seeds.

Meanwhile, the Seed Wing top official at the agriculture ministry points his finger at the different taste of the off-season vegetables.

"You may not get the same taste of a winter vegetables as you taste by consuming that during summer." sohel@thedailystar net