Khulna University to build country's first soil archive

Khulna University (KU) is building the first soil archive in the country. The construction of the archive is taking place in an area 20ft under the ground floor of the Acharya Jagadishchandra Basu academic building of the university. Once the work is completed, samples of two or three layers of soil from 1,858 agricultural and forest lands will be preserved in the archive, which will expand the horizons for future research. Acting Director of Public Relations and Publishing department of Khulna University SM Atiar Rahman mentioned that the Acharya Jagadishchandra building’s design was based on the blueprints of the country's first floating foundation. Hence, the building has four stories over the ground and two stories worth of space under the ground as well. The two underground floors are being used for the soil archive. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and Bangladesh Forest Department will fund the project. Vice Chancellor of KU Prof Dr Md Fayek-Uz-Zaman visited the construction work around 11.30am on Tuesday. He praised the work done so far, and assured his full support for the completion of the project. The archive is being constructed under the direction of Prof of KU Forestry and Wood Technology discipline Dr Mahmud Hossain. He hoped that construction work for the soil archive would be finished by July.