Mustard oil was very popular in our country in the early 90's. Soybean oil later took over the place. Many people use palm oil because of the low price.
But in the last few months, edible oil prices have risen sharply. Ordinary people are in danger with that. However, there is new hope, sunflower oil or sunflower oil.
Sunflower oil is my today's post about this sunflower oil. At one time sunflower was cultivated in the country, much under the hobby. Then from commercial thinking, some people started cultivating sunflowers.
The idea that sunflower cultivation in coastal areas will be more profitable than any other crop has not been well received. The effect of salinity increases in coastal areas after cyclones. Although the time for planting sunflowers was suitable then, not much thought was given to the issue.
In 2016, Globe Agro Limited took the initiative to cultivate the first experimental 35 acres of sunflower. They have had a lot of success at the end of that year. It costs 35 to 40 lakh takas to cultivate sunflower in 154 acres of land. The profit is 10 to 15 lakh takas. After that, the landscape of the area changed and the #sunflower also changed the thoughts of the farmers. Sunflower became the most profitable crop in the area.
At present, it is being cultivated extensively in different districts of the country including Rajshahi, Jessore, Kushtia, Natore, Pabna, Comilla, Noakhali, Dinajpur, Gazipur and Tangail. Harunur Rashid, chairman of Globe Agro Limited, has been instrumental in awakening this new dream in the eyes of farmers.
Processing sunflower cultivation along the Noakhali coast is a big challenge for him. He is on the verge of success in this journey. Harun-ur-Rashid wants the people of Bangladesh to eat healthy oil. Among you, He has already set up the first large-scale sunflower seed processing plant in the country.
Yet the share of sunflower oil in the edible oil market is very small. Although the price of soybean is a little higher, the demand for this oil is increasing at the highest rate. According to the import data of the last five years, the import of sunflower oil is increasing at an average rate of 37 percent per annum. At the same time, the demand for soybean oil is growing at 7 percent. Sunflower oil is imported directly in refined form and bottled.
Seeing this market potential, Globe Edible Oil, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Globe Pharmaceuticals Group, is investing in this sector. The company set up a factory in Rupganj, Narayanganj to make oil and animal feed from sunflower oilseeds at a cost of Tk 450 crore. Production started last year. In the first phase, they imported 28,000 tons of imported seeds, from which 44 percent oil can be obtained. Besides, the market has also started marketing the sunflower oil called taste produced from sunflower seeds grown in the country under its supervision. Currently, 90% of edible oil used in Bangladesh has to be imported from abroad. According to the BBS data, in the fiscal year 2000-19, about 47.71 lakh metric tons of edible oil was imported to Bangladesh at a cost of around Tk 27,000 crore.
As a result of this import dependence, a lot of money is going away. Similarly, relying on middlemen in import and marketing is making the market of the product almost unstable. Now is the time to increase oil production in the country and use self-produced oil. There is a deficit in the production of edible oil from domestic sources in Bangladesh. So this product, which is one of the essential commodities, is now almost completely import-dependent. The dishonest syndicate is taking advantage of this opportunity. However, it is only possible to meet the demand for edible oil with the crops produced in the country if the fallow land is used wisely and the market is managed. It is possible to save 27000 crore takas in foreign exchange.
However, if the government has little goodwill on the initiative of the Department of Agriculture, surely one day Bangladesh will be able to meet its demand and join the list of oil-exporting countries.