Ten floating beds cost Tk 35,000; Tk 60,000 of vegetables sold by mid-season
A farmer in Satla beel, Uzirpur, Barishal spent Tk 35,000 building ten floating beds and had sold Tk 60,000 of vegetables by the time of the report, expecting Tk 70,000–80,000 in all.
The people of Satla beel in Uzirpur, Barishal, are cut off by water for about six months a year, and their land yields only one crop. In the monsoon their alternative income is floating vegetable farming. Bamboo or banana trunks are laid on the water, water hyacinth is heaped on them and covered with moss, and once it rots, seeds are sown on top. Each bed lasts one season; at the end, the rotted bed becomes organic fertiliser for Boro rice land.
According to a Prothom Alo report, building one bed 20 metres long and 2 to 2.5 metres wide costs Tk 3,500 to Tk 4,000, and each bed yields Tk 9,000 to Tk 10,000 of vegetable sales in a season. A 48-year-old farmer from South Satla had grown vegetables on 10 beds that year. He said, 'Building the beds cost Tk 35,000. I have sold Tk 60,000 of vegetables.' He was hoping for Tk 70,000–80,000 in sales by the end of the season.
Farmers take their vegetables to the Banaripara market two days a week, and sometimes traders buy straight from their homes. In the monsoon, Satla's floating vegetables are the main source for wholesalers in the surrounding area, and demand is high because they are free of toxic chemicals. At that time this farming was being done on 150 hectares of water bodies in the upazila.
Lessons
- 1.A bed pays for itself in one season, so start-up capital is small, but beds are rebuilt every season and that cost recurs.
- 2.The price advantage comes from selling in the monsoon when little other local produce reaches market.
We published this with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.
Discussion
Nobody has written anything yet. You can be the first.