Arshad Ahmed Asad, Gafargaon (Mymensingh)

Various names Valentina and Carotina are not names of flowers but colorful cauliflowers. Colorful cauliflower peeking out from the green leaves of two fields side by side in the same field. Which is big, which is small. The color of one of the two cauliflowers is purple, the other is yellow. Purple cauliflower is called Valentina and yellow cauliflower is Carotina.

The market value of colorful cauliflower is much higher than the traditional white cauliflower. The farmer succeeded in cultivating these two varieties of colorful cauliflower for the first time. Mosharraf Hossain. He is a resident of Janmejoy village of Gafargaon upazila of Mymensingh. He cultivated this cauliflower for the food of that village.

As the topic of colorful cauliflower cultivation is new in the upazila, many people are coming to see this cauliflower every day.

Sources of Upazila Agriculture Office said, under the 'Crop Intensification Project in Greater Mymensingh Region', the initiative to grow colorful cauliflower was taken this year. From that project, Hossain, the only farmer in the upazila, was given a color copy exhibition on 15 percent of the land. Farmer Mosharraf was successful for the first time. He has a bumper crop of colorful cauliflower to eat.

Last Monday afternoon, while eating Mosharraf's copy, it was seen that colorful cauliflowers are blooming behind some long green leaves. Purple cauliflower and yellow cauliflower are blooming in the field. Shahid Mia, the father of farmer Mosharraf Hossain, said while standing to eat, that the agricultural office gave a demonstration to cultivate colored copies. Now the copy has yielded quite well. The price is more than double than the normal copy. Cultivation of this cauliflower in small land gives more profit.

Deputy Assistant Agriculture Officers Ruhul Amin and Humayun Kabir said that many farmers are showing interest in cultivating cauliflower after this time. Colored varieties are good looking and yield better. Farmers are also getting good prices. The biggest advantage of these two varieties is that they contain antioxidants. Which is helpful in preventing cancer.

Gafargaon Upazila Agriculture Officer Agriculturist Rakib Al Rana said, for the first time in the upazila, three colors of yellow, purple and green cauliflower have been grown on 33 percent of the land. The demand for colored cauliflower is much higher than the conventional plain cauliflower and its nutritional value is also much higher. This year, farmers are able to sell colored cauliflower at three times higher prices than conventional cauliflower. As the reason for this, he said, these cauliflowers contain a lot of antioxidants.

In addition, there is a type of vitamin called carotene, anthosirin, which is very useful for our body. Moreover, the color copy contains vitamins such as Vitamin A, B-1, B-2. As there is a lot of pressure between the people and the farmers, I will take immediate measures to expand it.