Highlights:
Ruhul Amin, a younger entrepreneur from Onahata village in Dupchanchia upazila of Bogura, has successfully cultivated ginger in 22 sacks terminate to his dwelling recently.
Impressed by this success, he plans to manufacture higher into industrial farming. To be taught extra about ginger cultivation and toughen his technical knowledge, Ruhul Amin recently visited the Spice Evaluate Centre in Bogura.
The Spice Evaluate Centre, a pioneering institution, has been instrumental in enhancing spice gash manufacturing by evolved research and practising initiatives.
Officials at the centre renowned that pastime in agricultural technology is rising, with many professional people turning to farming. Such initiatives, they acknowledged, are boosting productivity all around the country.
Spices own long played a job in the subcontinent’s historical previous, before the total thing worn as dyes and medicines sooner than changing into a culinary staple.
Currently, 30 sorts of spices are cultivated in Bangladesh, out of the 113 that are grown worldwide. Spice flowers are as soon as in some time harvested from tropical vegetation, and Bangladesh ranks amongst the end five global spice producers, in maintaining with the Meals and Agriculture Organisation.
Spices are cultivated on 4.29 lakh hectares of land in Bangladesh, producing 35.93 lakh tonnes as soon as a year, accounting for 9% of global spice manufacturing.
Nevertheless, the country peaceful depends on imports to meet home demand, with an annual deficit of 13.54 lakh tonnes. Bangladesh imports spherical Tk8,000–9,000 crore fee of spices as soon as a year, prompting ongoing research to cleave encourage dependency on imports.
Comtributions of Spice Evaluate Centre
Established in 1996 underneath the Bangladesh Agricultural Evaluate Institute (BARI), the Bogura Spice Evaluate Centre has developed 58 spice sorts and 156 cultivation technologies all the intention by the last twenty years.
Its research has improved flowers like onion, chilli, garlic, ginger, turmeric, coriander, dusky cumin, fenugreek, parsley, fennel, wild celery, ajowan, chives, mint, general palm, cinnamon, dusky pepper, betel leaf, cumin and masses other spices.
The centre operates three regional and 4 sub-regional research services and products to manufacture higher its impression nationwide.
Farmers are already making the many of the centre’s innovations. Saiful Islam, a farmer from Krishnapura village in Shibganj upazila, cultivated cumin on eight kathas of land this yr.
“The seedlings are having a watch correct, and if I rep a correct yield, I conception to manufacture higher to industrial farming,” he acknowledged.
Mahmudul Hasan Suja, senior scientific officer (Horticulture) at the centre, highlighted the profitability of cumin farming.
“Cumin cultivation can yield four occasions extra profit than rice,” he defined. This season, 80 farmers all over 17 districts are rising cumin, a gash previously understanding-about depraved for Bangladesh’s native climate.
Addressing onion market instability
The country faces an annual onion scarcity of roughly 5 lakh tonnes, ensuing in market instability between August and November.
To address this, the Spice Evaluate Centre and the Division of Agricultural Extension own developed BARI Onion-5, which would perhaps also be cultivated yr-spherical.
Farmers are being encouraged to develop this differ to cleave encourage reliance on imports.
Nur Alam Chowdhury, a senior scientific officer, shared progress on summer season onion cultivation, asserting, “Increasing seedlings for summer season onions was a downside, but we’ve succeeded. Many districts are now cultivating summer season onions, which will significantly cleave encourage import dependency.”
The centre is also pioneering onion powder manufacturing in Bangladesh to curb post-harvest losses, which narrative for 25–30% of total onion manufacturing.
Masud Alam, a researcher in meals processing, acknowledged, “Onion powder is now and again a sustainable different to raw onions, growing alternatives for entrepreneurs and stabilising the market.”
Technological innovations
The Bogura centre has introduced solutions like ginger cultivation in sacks, growing onion yield by zinc and boron software, and intercropping chilli and onion.
Other trends own enhancing garlic manufacturing by constructed-in nutrient and irrigation administration, producing turmeric by seedlings, and imposing constructed-in pest administration solutions.
Additionally, the research centre has centered on determining the fee of decay and sprouting of plenty of onion sorts in storage.
It also continues to investigate much less general spices, including dill, bay leaf, wild celery, ajowan, chuijhal, fragrant ginger, long pepper, zedoary, achiote, sweet flag, pandan, lemongrass, mango ginger, basil, piper cubeb, chives, allspice, curry leaves, clove, pistachio, almond, nutmeg, mace, vanilla, rosemary, and parsley.
Chief Scientific Officer Md Zulfiqar Haider Pradhan underscored the centre’s collaborative methodology, pointing out, “We work with the Division of Agricultural Extension to manufacture certain our innovations attain farmers. Despite challenges like climate and manpower shortages, our efforts are bringing major advantages to the final public.”
With its kind out high-yielding, nutrient-well off and native climate-resilient spice sorts, the Bogura Spice Evaluate Centre is advancing agriculture in Bangladesh whereas reducing reliance on imports.
