Local Market Research on Vegetable in Jessore of the High Ganges River Floodplain, Bangladesh

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONMarket is a most active site in daily life of people in monsoon Asian countries. Vegetables in a market are mostly local products in Bangladesh. While, fruits are frequently imported from other areas or countries. We have visited Jessore District, located in the southwestern part of Bangladesh, in the field survey of Kyushu University P&P Project (Kyushu University Interdisciplinary Programs in Education and Projects in Research Development) of “An empirical study on the pathway of arsenic from groundwater contamination to human health hazard” headed by Dr. Masakazu Tani, Associated Professor of the Faculty of Design, Kyushu University.Jessore District occupies a southern half of the High Ganges River Floodplain, and the land is calcareous and mostly above normal flood–level (FAO–UNDP, 1988). Vegetables and pulses are cultivated in the filed as crops in the cropping patterns under rainfed and irrigated con-ditions (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, 2005). We have observed vegetables grown in the field and in the garden around farmer’s houses. In the present study, market research on vegetables was done in July 2006 and March and July 2007 at a vegetable bazaar in Jessore Town and in March and July at a hut in Marua Village of Chowgaccha Upazila. March is in the late dry season and July is in the early rainy season in Bangladesh. The purpose of the present study is to identify vegetables sold at bazaar and hut and to under-stand seasonal variation in the kind and price of vegeta-bles in Jessore, Bangladesh.MATERIALS AND MRTHODS