Itahari, May 20:

Farmers in the eastern region are being increasingly attracted towards Sunflower farming, which takes less hard work, time and investment but gives a lot of profit.

Commercial farming of sunflower has been started in 20 VDCs of Sunsari including Gautampur, Babiya, Madhuban, Prakashpur, Kaptangunj, Dewangunj, Madhyaharshahi, Basantapur, Harinagara, Laukahi and Bhokraha, an official at Sunsari District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) Krishna Prasad Sharma said.

Sharma added that farmers were attracted to sunflower farming as sunflower oil is healthier than the mustard oil.

“Only 750 kgs of mustard is produced on one hectare land while upto 1,300 kgs of sunflower can be produced on one hectare of land”, Sharma said. He added that commercial farming of sunflower to produce edible oil began in Sunsari five years ago.

Farmers in the buffer zone of Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve said farming of sunflower has proved to be a boon for them. A farmer, Singh Narayan Shrestha of Madhuban VDC-2 said although animals of the wildlife reserve damage other crops, they don’t even touch sunflower plants. He has been continuing sunflower farming on two bighas of land. “We only need to protect the sunflower plants from parrots”, another farmer Indra Luitel said.

According to DADO statistics, commercial farming of sunflower is being done on 200 hectares of land in Sunsari. Meanwhile, commercial farming of papaya has been started in Sunsari for the first time this year. Farming of papaya has been started in eight VDCs of Sunsari, the officer at Sunsari DADO Krishna Prasad Sharma said.

Commercial farming of only papaya was done in Nawalparasi district before, he added.

“Farmers of Kaptangunj, Dewangunj, Madhyaharsahi, Basantapur, Harinagara, Laukahi, Bhokraha and Dumraha have started commercial papaya farming on 10 hectares of land in the district”, Sharma said.