Bangladeshi vegetables are being grown commercially in Britain

Growing Bangladeshi vegetables in Britain's cold and hostile climate was once thought to be impossible. But now three young expatriate Bangladeshis are making that impossible possible. 

Three friends, Habibur Rahman and Abdur Razzak from Comilla and Imdad Ullah from Naogaon, have developed a unique system of vegetable farming called 'Fresh Krishi'.

In a 3-hectare greenhouse in Epping, a suburb of London, they are cultivating familiar vegetables such as Bangladeshi gourd, red cabbage, poi cabbage, stalks, collards, brinjals, yams and beans. With the help of greenhouse technology, they are producing these vegetables not only during the summer, but for seven to eight months.

Entrepreneur Abdur Razzak said that they are harvesting an average of 2,000 kg of produce every day and delivering it directly to the Bangladeshi-dominated markets of Whitechapel and Green Street in East London. Their goal this year is to sell vegetables worth approximately 300,000 pounds, equivalent to around 50 million taka in Bangladeshi currency. The British market for Bangladeshi vegetables is huge. Its market value in Britain alone is about 500 million taka. They have started commercial vegetable cultivation in Britain for the first time in that market.