The farmers in the Jessore region have started cultivating early winter vegetables abundantly as they find it more profitable than the other items.

Farmers in several bordering villages in the region are successfully producing toxic free early varieties of winter vegetables like Brinjal, bitter gourd, snake gourd and ridge gourd.

Officials at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said around 16,235 hectares of land in different upazilas of Jessore has been brought under vegetables cultivation this year.

The farmers started winter vegetables farming since the end of September this year, which usually begins in mid November.

In recent years, the farmers in the region are using eco-friendly pheromone trap instead of harmful pesticides. For the last few years, pheromone trap is gaining popularity among the farmers as it is eco-friendly and more useful.

Emdad Hossain Sheikh, deputy director at Jessore DAE, said they are encouraging the poor and marginal growers to cultivate early variety of the vegetables as it is more profitable for them. 

The DAE official said they have provided high quality seeds to the growers so that they can grow different variety of vegetables abundantly.

Babulur Rahman, a farmer of Matikumro village in Sharsha upazila, said he has spent Tk 5,000 for cultivating bottle gourd on his two bighas of land and expected to earn around Tk 40,000 by selling the items.

The yields are much higher this season due to favourable weather and smooth supply of seeds and fertilizers, the DAE official added.