BSS, Gaibandha :
Orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) farming among the marginal and flood affected farmers of Sadar and Fulchhari upazilas here has been progressing fast for a couple of weeks. Office sources said in cooperation with BARI and DAE an initiative has been taken to farm OFSP on about 380 bighas of loamy land owned by 2,500 affected farmers of the upazilas during the current season for the first time under SUSTAIN Project funded by UKAID
The objective of the farming of eco-friendly and climate resilient crop OFSP is to change the socio-economic condition of the farmers and meet up the gradually increasing demands of nutrition particularly Vitamin A in the country. To help involve the rural women in income generating activity for empowering themselves economically through the OFSP cultivation is another objective of the project side by side with eradicating gender discrimination from the society, sources said.
International Potato Centre (CIP) Bangladesh in partnership with Brac is implementing the project in field level and till November 20, some 257 bighas of land owned by 1,701 farmers were brought under the farming and the rest 123 bighas would be brought by November 30.
Like other beneficiary farmers, Shahana Begum, a farmer of Adarshapara under Ghagoa union of Sadar upazila, said she farmed the variety on her 5 decimal of land being motivated by the project officials to get desired output against the crop to change her fate.
Sector leader of CIP Bangladesh Dr. Shofiur Rahman said as the soil of the district is very suitable for OFSP farming; the initiative had been taken here for the first time under a pilot programme. To make the farming a grand success and help the farmers get good returns against the crop, training programmes are also going on in full swing among the enthusiastic farmers of the remote areas of the upazilas from October 26, he also said.
Orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) farming among the marginal and flood affected farmers of Sadar and Fulchhari upazilas here has been progressing fast for a couple of weeks. Office sources said in cooperation with BARI and DAE an initiative has been taken to farm OFSP on about 380 bighas of loamy land owned by 2,500 affected farmers of the upazilas during the current season for the first time under SUSTAIN Project funded by UKAID
The objective of the farming of eco-friendly and climate resilient crop OFSP is to change the socio-economic condition of the farmers and meet up the gradually increasing demands of nutrition particularly Vitamin A in the country. To help involve the rural women in income generating activity for empowering themselves economically through the OFSP cultivation is another objective of the project side by side with eradicating gender discrimination from the society, sources said.
International Potato Centre (CIP) Bangladesh in partnership with Brac is implementing the project in field level and till November 20, some 257 bighas of land owned by 1,701 farmers were brought under the farming and the rest 123 bighas would be brought by November 30.
Like other beneficiary farmers, Shahana Begum, a farmer of Adarshapara under Ghagoa union of Sadar upazila, said she farmed the variety on her 5 decimal of land being motivated by the project officials to get desired output against the crop to change her fate.
Sector leader of CIP Bangladesh Dr. Shofiur Rahman said as the soil of the district is very suitable for OFSP farming; the initiative had been taken here for the first time under a pilot programme. To make the farming a grand success and help the farmers get good returns against the crop, training programmes are also going on in full swing among the enthusiastic farmers of the remote areas of the upazilas from October 26, he also said.
