BANDARBAN, April 5, 2023 (BSS) - Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque today said there is huge potentiality of cultivation of cash crop in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region. 

"Like plain land, different varieties of cash crop including almond, mango, pineapple, chilli, coffee and dragon are being cultivated in CHT region," he told a meeting after visiting almond cultivation field and coffee garden in Naikhongchhari upazila here, an official release said. 

Chattogram Hill Tracts (CHT) Affairs Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing, Dipankar Talukdar, MP, Basonti Chakma, MP, Agriculture Secretary Wahida Aktar, Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Dr Sheikh Md Bakhtiar and Director General of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Badal Chandra Biswas, among others, were present during the visit. 

The minister said the government has taken initiatives to expand cash crop cultivation particularly almond and coffee as there are huge demand of these cash crops in both local and international markets. 

Razzaq said, "CHT region has a vast tract of fallow land.... Relevant organizations of agriculture ministry have directed to bring these fallow land under different types of crop cultivation to boost economic progress in the region."

He said the government is providing agri-input along with other facilities to motivate growers to cultivate almond and coffee, which eventually will contribute to economic progress in the country. 

Alongside expansion of cash crop cultivation in the CHT region, the government is focusing on improving marketing system and preservation of produced crops, the minister said.