To meet the food demand through the production of edible oil, sunflowers have been cultivated in the fallow lands of different areas of Gournadi upazila of Barisal district.
The sunflower fields have now turned into beautiful flower gardens. To deal with the pressure of visitors coming to the sunflower fields by the side of the highway and to protect the flowers from them,, village police have been deployed in the area.
The land had turned yellow with sunflowers at Bejhar area of Gournadi upazila in Barishal by the side of Barisal-Dhaka highway since the weather had been favourable for harvesting sunflowers this year. Farmers were therefore seen to be happier.
According to local sources, people from different classes and professions have been thronging the sunflower fields from morning to afternoon for the past few days to enjoy the beauty of the dazzling flowers and taking selfies with flowers.
Dhaka TribuneAbdul Latif, a farmer of Bejhar area by the side of Barisal-Dhaka highway, said the sunflower lovers often pluck the flowers from the fields.
As a result, he sought help of Saikat Guha Piklu, chairman of Mahilara union parishad. With the initiative of the UP chairman the sunflower garden is being protected by three village policemen from morning to evening.
Mahilara UP Chairman Saikat Guha Piklu confirmed the information.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Shahidul Islam said after the announcement of the prime minister on the need to cultivate every piece of land, farmers are being encouraged to cultivate different crops by taking help from the local agriculture office. As a result, farmers have demonstrated their interest in sunflower cultivation due to the low cost and high profit involved.
He said that sunflowers were cultivated on 15 hectares of land in this upazila last year. This year it has increased to 20 hectares.