Sunflower cultivation on fallow land brings ray of hope

Hundreds of farmers are opting for cultivating sunflowers across the country and many have taken up sunflower cultivation as the best alternative cash crop. 

In Fakirhat of Bagerhat district, farmers are cultivating sunflowers on 150 hectares of fallow land, which is also generating employment in the upazila.  

Additionally, a growing awareness regarding the use of sunflower oil as an alternative to soybean or palm oil is driving many farmers towards cultivating the crop. 

Dhaka Tribune

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in the district says that considering its greater yield and higher profitability, more farmers are opting for sunflower cultivation. 

According to the upazila agriculture office, a total of 1030 farmers have cultivated sunflowers under government incentives on 137 hectares of land. They have had a bumper yield this year, officials told Dhaka Tribune.

Farmer Motalem Morol said that many visitors have been coming to his farm just to witness the beauty of the yellow green field. He said that if the weather favours the farmers, they will get an even better yield in the next season. The farmer from Lakhpur said that he plans to expand his sunflower cultivation. 

Dhaka Tribune

Another farmer Shafiqul Gazi said that he cultivated the crop on his land that had been lying unused after he harvested paddy earlier in the season. His decision to cultivate sunflowers has given him a thriving business and he wants to continue cultivating the crop. 

Another farmer named Lovely Akhter said that considering the health risk and high prices of other edible oils, she has decided to cultivate sunflowers from the next season as well. 

Upazila Agriculture Officer Nasrul Millat hopes that if sunflower cultivation is made popular among more farmers, consumers will get healthy edible oil and farmers will benefit from increased demand. 

Dhaka Tribune

Mohon Kumar Ghosh, additional director of DAE in Khulna region, said that the government has taken an initiative to promote sunflower cultivation in the country through providing various incentives to farmers so that it can reduce dependence on imported edible oil. 

As part of the initiative, he said that farmers were given seeds and fertilizer along with being imparted training on sunflower cultivation.