BSS, Rajshahi :
A massive tree plantation can help reduce carbon emission to a substantial level and that is very important to face the adverse impact of climate change in the region including its vast Barind tract.
There is no alternative to create more forest area which needs an adequate financial support from both national and international donor agencies.
The observations came at the launching ceremony of a tree plantation programme at Rajshahi University (RU) campus here on Monday.
RU Vice-chancellor Prof Abdus Sobhan, Pro-VC Prof Ananda Kumar Shaha and Provost of Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall Prof Abdur Rahman, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Prof Abdus Sobhan said an optimum afforestation could help stop degradation of environment and biodiversity making the country a safe habitat for all.
Expanding the country’s forest area to 25 percent of the total landscape will protect Bangladesh from the possible alarming consequences of the ongoing climate change, he added.
Institution level tree plantation has a bigger role towards inspiring the students to more tree plantation leading to protecting environment from further degradation.
This is the time of making the tree plantation popular among the teachers, guardians and students to sustainable reduction of carbon emission coupled with mitigating the adverse impact of climate change.
Stressing the need for formulating a time-befitting policy, Prof Sobhan pointed out that the present impacts of climate change have adversely affected the region’s agriculture, irrigation, navigation, ecology, bio-diversity, weather, environment and underground water levels.
Prof Ananda Kumar Shaha stressed conducting more research to innovate newer technologies and ways for adaptation and expanded cultivation of stress tolerant and high yielding crops thorough popularising those among the farmers.
Prospects of sesame farming in Barind tract
Large scale farming of sesame can be the effective means of mitigating the adverse impact of climate change coupled with the existing drought condition in the vast Barind tract.
Agricultural scientists and researchers opined that prospects of large-scale sesame farming on the fallow lands are very bright in the drought-prone area.
Agriculturist Rustam Ali Mondal said more than one lakh hectares of land remain fallow after harvesting transplanted Aman paddy in the high Barind tract comprising 10 upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon districts every year.
He said there is an enormous prospect of producing at least one lakh tonnes of sesame valued at around Taka 300 crore from the fallow lands yearly and thereby, the country’s demand for edible oil could be fulfilled to some extent.
Meanwhile, farmers and agriculture officials in the region are expecting a bumper yield of sesame this season.
Mustafizur Rahman, Additional Director of Department of Agriculture Extension, said the pollination was well due to favorable weather condition and the plants are still unaffected by pest attacks or natural calamities.
Most of the plants have already passed the pod formation stage, he added. A good number of honey farmers set wooden hives alongside the oilseed fields, and it helped better pollination.
The farmers are showing interest in cultivating the crop on more areas of lands after getting its bumper yield and good prices in recent years, DAE officials said.
It requires lower production cost in terms of irrigation, fertiliser and labour compared to other Rabi crops, and less fertile lands, where other crops do not usually grow well, can be used for sesame cultivation, they said.
