Home ›› 04 Mar 2023 ›› Nation
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) brings 10 acres of recovered encroached fallow land under sunflower cultivation to expand oil-seed crop production in Tangail.
The DAE, under the supervision of Gopalpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Parvej Mollik, has achieved this inspiring feat in order to uphold Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instruction of making use of all fallow and unused lands in the country and develop the agro-economy.
The ten acres of land in the Bhuarpara area of Tangail’s Gopalpur upazila was acquired by the government in 1957 to establish a brick kiln. The land was left abandoned after the kiln was shut down in 1973 due to a lack of profit.
Locals gradually started encroaching on the land by using it as a cattle grazing ground and some even built houses.
The UNO decided to recover the land after finding out about it and make use of the fallow land. Local fire service and civil defence office was set up on 350 decimals of the 10 acres of recovered land.
On the rest of the land, the upazila DAE office implemented the sunflower farming project to boost oil crop production. The garden will be in full bloom within a few weeks, related sources said.
In a recent on-site visitation, this correspondent found the one wasteland now almost full of sunflower plants. The garden has started to gather attention among nature enthusiasts as visitors flock to the area to enjoy the scenery.
In this regard, Parvej Mollik said, “We cultivated sunflower as it is a highly demanding cash crop. As far as I know, this is the largest sunflower cultivation project in the country.”
A local elderly, Nurul Islam said, “The land has been left unused ever since my youth. The UNO’s efforts to recover the land and cultivate sunflowers are commendable.”
The project’s security in-charge Abbas Ali said the project has also benefitted many in the area by providing employment opportunities.
“I used to be a day labourer and it is hard to find a stable income in this line of work. Finding permanent employment has helped me provide for my family,” he said.
Gopalpur upazila agriculture officer Shamima Akhtar said sunflower produced more oil than mustard or other crops and has many health benefits. Sunflower oil acts as an antidote to cancer and heart disease and improves the skin.
“The cultivation started on December 22 last year. The DAE supplied some 40 kg of sunflower seeds and the upazila administration provided the irrigation arrangements,” she said.
She further said that the climate of the area is favourable for sunflower cultivation and they expect to harvest about 10 tonnes of sunflower seeds this season.
According to Gopalpur UNO Parvej Mollik, after harvesting the sunflowers, soybeans will be planted on the land.
“I hope the residents of the area will be encouraged to cultivate oil crops after seeing our success. Sunflower cultivation is a profitable endeavour due to low production cost and high prices,” he said, adding that it can reduce our dependency on oil import.
Tangail Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jasim Uddin Haider said that the sunflower seeds produced from this project will be given free of cost to farmers of 12 upazilas of the district to expand cultivation further.
