An increasing number of Lalmonirhat's women are taking to the farm fields of their own accord, in order to cultivate vegetables.

With promising results already achieved, the district's women are gaining quite a reputation as proficient farmers.

"Women have been outperforming the men," says Lalmonirhat's deputy director of the agriculture extension department, Bidu Bhusan Roy. "At least ten thousand women are directly engaged in crop farming, especially in vegetable production. They use their own land or lease land, without any man's assistance. It's a very positive development for the future of agriculture."

"I've been growing vegetables on our two bighas of land for the last five years," says Neharun Begum, 45, from Aditmari upazila's Gobordhan village. "I used to work as a day labourer on a local farm and I earned no more than Tk 125 per day, while our family's land went uncultivated. Things are better now."

"When I first grew vegetables on our four bighas in 2010," says Zerin Begum, 42, of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila's Fulgachh village, who took a one-month training course before she embarked on her cultivation endeavours, "I earned Tk 72,000. Last year my earnings were more than Tk 1.4 lakhs."

Neighbour Delowara Begum, 25, meanwhile, has been growing vegetables on three bighas leased by her husband, for the last three years. "My husband couldn't make good profit from the land," she says, "I changed that. My vegetables make a tidy profit for us." She does all the work on her own, without her husband's help, she adds.

Similarly, in Aditmari's Kamlabari village, Sandhya Rani, 40, through vegetable farming on their six bighas, has been maintaining the daily expenses of her five-member family for the past six years, including covering the education costs of their three children.

"Some years ago my husband was confused how to earn a decent income," she says. "I solved his dilemma by leasing land and growing vegetables on it. Since then, in addition to covering our living costs I've been able to deposit around Tk 90,000 per annum as savings as well."

According to Bidu Bhusan Roy, women are often better at caring for vegetable crops than male farmers; and as such they more often achieve high yields. "Nor do the women need to go to the market to sell the produce," he says, "since vegetable traders will purchase their crops directly from the field." Women in agriculture have brought about significant change for the better across the district, he says, since they first took charge of vegetable cultivation.