Bangladesh can produce additional 2.6m tonnes of mustard oil seeds a year

Bangladesh can produce an additional 2.6-million tonnes of mustard oilseeds annually by adopting a new crop arrangement. Agriculture minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said this on Saturday. Cultivating mustard during the fallow period between Aman and Boro seasons, he said, farmers can grow this big volume of mustard seeds on high and mid-high land. "We can extract 1.04-million tonnes of mustard oil from the seeds, almost half the cooking oil's demand," cited Mr Razzaque. He was inaugurating a rice harvest ceremony at Dhanbari in Tangail district, said a press release issued by the agricultural ministry. The minister was speaking as the chief guest at the programme marking the newly released Boro rice varieties-BRRI dhan 89 and 92. The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) hosted the event chaired by BRRI director general Dr Shahjahan Kabir. Senior agriculture secretary Md Mesbahul Islam, DAE director general Md Asadullah, ...