GAIBANDHA, Nov 09, 2020 (BSS)- Farmers are going to produce Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI)-released orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) in Gaibandha, Kurigram and Rangpur districts of the country during the current season.
Gan Unnayan Kendra (GUK), a local reputed non-government organization of northern region, will help farmers produce this crop under its programme of Development and Delivery of Bio fortified (DDBIO) Crops at Scale in cooperation with International Potato Center (CIP) with the financial support of UKaid, office sources said.
Under the programme, a total of 6000 farmers’ have been selected to cultivate the variety on 909 bighas of land this season.
The objective of the BARI SP-4, BARI SP-8 and BARI SP-12 farming is to help the growers earn economical profit with meeting the growing demand of Vitamin A which is very essential for the children and pregnant women.
The OFSP would be farmed in Sadar and Fulchhari upazilas under Gaibandha district, Pirgachha and Kaunia upazilas of Rangpur district and Sadar and Rajarhat Upazilas of Kurigram district, said Agricultural Research and Development Specialist of CIP Monower Hossain.
To bring the land under farming, 150 entrepreneurs have already set up nurseries where the vines of OFSP had grown well and the entrepreneurs are taking care like their own children to get required number of vines, he also said.
Within few days of this month, 60 lakh pieces of vines of OFSP would be collected from the entrepreneurs and it would be distributed to the selected farmers of the upazilas to plant those on the sandy land to get desired output, he added.
Technological and other technical supports were also being provided from the programme to produce the OFSP, he further said.
The selected farmers were also being trained up so that they could produce OFSP.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension agriculturist Masudur Rahman said the sub-assistant agriculture officers had been instructed to help the farmers produce OFSP successfully.
Talking to BSS, chief executive of GUK Abdus Salam said, the vine distribution to the selected farmers had already started and the farmers would harvest the variety in next March if the weather is favorable.