Sunflower farming expanding in Sylhet division

SYLHET, Mar 02: Sunflower farming has witnessed massive expansion in Sylhet region this season mainly due to favourable climatic condition.
Yield of the oil seed has been good, though the production target could not be achieved, farmers and officials said.
However, due to the absence of marketing and thrashing facilities in the rural areas, the common farmers' interest still remains a little behind.
Cultivation of the oil seed is yet to get the desired attention of the authorities for various reasons.
Consequently, the crop's production target for the current season could not be achieved, officials said.
The failure in the production target fulfilment mainly happened due to floods and other calamities last season in the region.
According to a report prepared by the divisional office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Sylhet, 272 hectares of land were brought under sunflower farming in Sylhet district against a target of 375 hectares while it is 145 hectares in Moulvibazar against the target of 292 hectares and 382 hectares against the target of 406 hectares in Habiganj and 53 hectares against 170 hectares in Sunamganj. In the division, the area stood at 772 hectares in total while the target was earlier set at 1,237 hectares, an official added.
Contacted, the DAE, Sylhet division's additional director, Bimol Chandra Shome, told this correspondent, "The DAE had supplied some seed and fertilisers as incentives for the poor and flood-hit marginal farmers of the region this year. Besides, we are providing thrashing facilities at the upazila level." "We hope sunflower oil production would spread soon," he added. Some machines named oil expeller are available in the market which can be used for thrashing maize, sunflower, mustard and sesame; they are available at Tk 0.4 million each.
However, the farmers are getting extra benefits for setting honeycomb boxes in the mustard fileds, which also helps additional yield of mustard and honey as well, said farmer Ataur Rahman of Golapganj in Sylhet last week.

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