Story of Successful Broccoli Cultivation from Uttar Dinajpur District

       Uttar Dinajpur, like other areas of West Bengal is predominantly a rice growing district with 2.64 lakhs ha under paddy cultivation (based on data by KVK, UD), covering more than 50% of the total crop area whereas vegetables are grown in around 35000 ha covering 8 % of the cultivated area. Majority of the farmers are with small and marginal land holdings, and depend mainly on the monsoon rains for cultivation. Unfortunately, there are manifestations of many issues in rain-fed agriculture such as  water stress, soil nutrient depletion, weed problems thus compromising the productivity of land. West Bengal Accelerated Development in Minor Irrigation Project(WBADMIP) in this regard playing an important role in addressing the issue by providing assured irrigation through Minor Irrigation structures as well as market led agricultural technologies to enhance the income of the small and marginal farmers dwelling in the rain fed areas. 

   

Local farmer Yusuf Alam

       During the Rabi 2016-17, the ASS team of Uttar Dinajpur DPMU came up with an innovative idea of introducing Broccoli in the Project  areas.  Eighty farmers were selected under Broccoli Technology Demonstrations Centre covering 15 Water User Associations (each demonstration plot consists of maximum upto 1 bigha area of land and the farmer owning the plot must be from the project village).  One of the main reason behind introducing broccoli is its better shelf life in comparison to cauliflower. Broccoli can be stored for a week in ice but cauliflower needs to be sold as quickly as possible after the harvest. Even though India is the second largest producer of broccoli after china but its consumption is mostly limited to the metros. The crop is yet to catch up with the taste buds of the middle class segment due to its higher price in comparison to other crops from the cruciferae family. Where cauliflowers during Winter season gets available at Rs 20/kg, a kilo of Broccoli costs around Rs 100-Rs 120 thus creating the window of opportunity for the small and marginal farmers to make broccoli available in the local markets at affordable prices. 

There were lots of curiosities and excitement initially among the DPMU experts regarding the outcome as a poor yield could discourage the farmers from participating further in the WBADMIP Agricultural activities . However, hard work paid off and the farmers owning the demonstration plots earned INR 50,000- 60,000 from less than half a bigha plot of land within 3 months. Citing example of two of the successful farmers, here was their economy of return:

1. Farmer's Name: Yusuf Alam                           
    Name of the WUA: Debiganj Ramvita 

    Type of Scheme: Shallow Tube Well

    Date of Sowing: 6th Dec 2016

    Date of Harvesting: 22th Feb 2017 

                                   till 9th March 2017

Cultivated area	Cost of Cultivation(INR)*	No. of Broccoli Heads	Selling Rate(INR)	Gross Profit (INR)	Net Profit (INR)
20 decimal	12710	3000	15-20/head	60000	47290

2. Farmer's Name: Ansarul Haque

    Name of the WUA: Lakhipur Yubo 

    Type of Scheme: Shallow Tube Well

    Date of Sowing: 2nd Dec 2016

    Date of Harvesting: 24th Feb 2017 

                              till 7th March 2017

Cultivated area	Cost of Cultivation(INR)*	No. of Broccoli Heads	Selling Rate(INR)	Gross Profit (INR)	Net Profit (INR)
24 decimal	17575	4000	15-20/head	75000	57425

Project officials are encouraging market based crop diversification as a practice of sustainable agriculture among the small and marginal farmers and the success in broccoli cultivation in Uttar Dinajpur is bringing a ray of hope to the farmers from the other parts of the state.