<i>Farmers opt for sunflower cultivation in Patuakhali</i>
Shefali Begum tends sunflower plants at her field at Shialy village in Patuakhali Sadar upazila. Cultivation of the plant producing nutritious oil seeds has become a good earning source for many people in the area recently.Photo: STAR
Cultivation of oil seeds like sesame, mustard and sunflower are gaining popularity among Patuakhali farmers as it helps them to avoid high cost for bottled edible oil and add to family income. This year farmers cultivated oil seeds on about 35,000 acres of land -- sesame on about 25,000 acres, sunflower on 7,000 acres and mustard on 3,000 acres of land in the district against last year's 15,000 acres, said DAE sources. Interestingly, a good number of female farmers are getting involved in sunflower cultivation on their land. "I cultivated sunflower on 0.50 acres of land. I hope to get 8 to 10 maunds (a maund is equal to around 44 kg in local measure) of seeds that will bring me 190 to 200 litres of oil. It is sufficient to meet my family's yearly demand," said Rashida Begum, 45, a farmer of Shially village under Sadar upazila. Urmila Rani, 50, of the same village said she cultivated sunflower on her 0.50 acres of lands to meet the family need as prices of edible oil is on the rise. Eunus Howlader, 60, of Keshobpur village under the same upazila, who cultivated sunflower on one acre of land, said he did not have to buy edible oil from market during the last three years as oil seed from his field is more than enough to meet his family requirement. "I learnt from a doctor that oil from sunflower seed is better than bottled oil from the market," he said. Mostafa Kamal, another farmer of the village, said he sold sunflower oil of Tk 5,000 after meeting his family requirement. Local farmers are encouraged to cultivate oil seeds including sunflower, mustard and sesame as it helps them to get edible oil at a low cost while price of edible oil in local market is too high, said Abdul Awal, deputy assistant agriculture officer of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE). "Sunflower cultivation is easier, cheaper and more profitable. It requires very little irrigation and small amounts of fertilisers and insecticides. A kg of sunflower seeds brings 500 to 600 grams of oil, an amount more than that from any other oil seeds," he added. DAE is trying to encourage local farmers to cultivate oil seeds through a five-year project titled 'Market Infrastructures Development Project for Char Lands Region'. The project started in 2009 and will end in 2013. Under the project DAE is providing training to farmers to hand over new technologies to cultivate oil seeds in these areas. Brac also brought 180 acres of lands under sunflower cultivation in Sadar, Kalapara and Mirzaganj upazilas of Patuakhali district. The NGO is implementing a two-year (January 2010 -- December 2011) project titled 'Crop Intensification for Achieving Food Sufficiency in the Coastal Region of Bangladesh'. Sunflower cultivation on an acre of land costs around Tk 7,000 to 9,000 and oil worth Tk 30,000 to 36,000 is produced from there, said Ashraful Islam, regional manager of Brac. Weather and soil in Patuakhali district are suitable for oil seed cultivation, DAE sources said, adding that 12 to 16 maunds of seeds are produced in an acre of land and 400 to 600 grams of oil is produced from per kg of seeds. Local farmers are getting more and more interested in oil seed cultivation as the prices of oil are on the rise, AZM Momtazul Karim, deputy director of DAE in Patuakhali.
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