Large-scale sesame farming on the fallow lands can be the effective means of mitigating the existing drought condition alongside the adverse impact of climate change in the vast barind tract, agricultural scientists and extension officials said yesterday.
They viewed more than one lakh hectares of land remain fallow after harvesting transplanted aman paddy in the high barind tract comprising 10 upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabgonj and Naogaon districts every year.
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 through utilizing modern farming methods like raised bed and high yielding variety. Thereby, the country’s demand of edible oil could be fulfilled to some extent. The observations came at a farmers’ field day styled “Extension of Sesame Farming in bed-planting method in drought-prone area in climate changed situation” held at Kakonhat’s Nabinagar area under Godagari Upazila of the district.
Regional Wheat Research Center (RWRC) of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) organized the field day aimed at motivating more farmers towards sesame cultivation in the water-stressed condition.
Director General of BARI Dr Rafiqul Islam Mondal and Joint Secretary (Research) of the Ministry of Agriculture Zamsher Ahammad Khandaker spoke as chief and special guests respectively with RWRC Chief Scientific Officer Dr Israil Hossain in the chair.
Former Director General of Department of Agriculture Extension Rahim Uddin Ahmed and its Deputy Director Abul Kalam Azad, BARI Chief Scientific Officer Dr Mahbubur Rahman Khan, Principal Scientific Officer Dr Shafiqul Islam also spoke.
Chief Guest Dr Rafiqul Islam said there is no alternative to bring diversity in cropping system in the changed climatic condition and urged the farmers to extend their cooperation towards sesame promotion in the dried area.
Dr Israil Hossian recommended minimising the farmers’ constraints for the sake of sustainable crop production. Farmers needed to be aware about the resource conserving technologies and modern scientific methods so that crop production remained technologically sound, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally secure.
