Palmyra Palm is proposed as the Symbol for Sustainability

Palmyra palm is cosmopolitan, grows in versatile environmental conditions viz. Ethiopian desert to Cox’s Bazaar Sea Beach of Bangladesh and high rainfall areas of Indochina; from Uzbekistan to South Africa. It adapts high plateau, hills and flats and low-lying lands, High humidity to droughty conditions. It can withstand wind speed of 300 miles/hour and it is the best windbreak against the storms. prescription drugs without It gives fruits, toddy, fibers, claddings and timber; controls soil erosion, allows undergrowths and a good shelter for weaving birds. Palmyra palm has many medicinal values especially to rejuvenate the olds.

কাঁঠালগাছের আবাদ নিয়ে কিছু কথা

ড. মোহাম্মদ আতাউর রহমান
কোঅর্ডিনেটর, এ্যাডুকেশন ফর সাসটেইনাবিলিটি
সেন্টার ফর গ্লোবাল এনভায়বরনমেন্টাল কালচার
ইন্টারন্যাশনাল ইউনিভার্সিটি অব বিজনেস এগ্রিকালচার এন্ড টেকনোলজী, উত্তরা, ঢাকা
Email:ar_forest@yahoo.com
marahman@iubat.edu

এবার বাংলাদেশে কাঁঠালের ফলন বেশ ভাল হয়েছে। বিশেষ করে রাজশাহীর বরেন্দ্র অঞ্চল, দিনাজপুর ভাওয়াল ও মধুপুর, সিলেট ও পার্বত্য-চট্রগ্রাম অঞ্চলের উচু এবং পাহাড়ী এলাকা থেকে ঢাকা সহ অন্যান্য শহর-বন্দরে প্রতিদিন শত শত ট্রাক কাঁঠাল বাজারজাত হয়েছে। জাতীয় ফল কাঁঠালে রয়েছে মোহনীয় গন্ধ ও মিষ্টি ¯^াদ। কচি কাঁঠাল ও কাঁঠালবীচির তরকারী সবারই প্রিয় খাদ্য। তাছাড়া কাঁঠালের রস ও পাল্প পিঠা খই ও মুড়ির সঙ্গে মজা করে উপভোগ করে সবাই। শুধু কি তাই, কাঁঠালের মচি বরই কিংবা তেঁতুলের সাথে ভর্তা করে খাওয়া খুবই তৃপ্তিকর। পাকা কাঁঠালের খোসা ও মোঁচা গরু-ছাগলের প্রিয় খাবার। দুধালো গাভী কাঁঠালের অবশিষ্ঠাংশ আহার করে অধিক দুধ দিয়ে থাকে। Continue reading →

Seminar on Solar Energy for High-Rise Buildings in Urban Areas

Venue: IUBAT Conference Hall, July 30, 2009

Presented by Dr. Mohammed Ataur Rahman, Director, Program on Education for Sustainability, Centre for Global Environmental Culture (CGEC)
IUBAT—International University of Business Agriculture and Technology,Bangladesh

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1. Relevance of the Action

Bangladesh occupies an area of 144,863 km². The hilly areas cover about 17,342.km² mostly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts districts, Chittagong, Habigonj and Moulavibazar. Hills constitute about 12 per cent of the total area of Bangladesh. Chittagong Hill Tracts districts alone covers 13,184 km² which is about 9%.Based on geology and landform, the hills of Bangladesh may broadly be subdivided as:  1. High hill ranges (about 70%) and                              2. Low hill areas (about 30%).   The high hill ranges, about 200-1,000 m above mean sea level (msl),  are steep to very steep hills and usually have a rather youthful soil mantle ranging from a few cm to several metres in thickness over bedrocks. In contrast, the low hill areas, about 15-200 m above msl are nearly flat or rounded topped and usually have old and deep soil. The whole hilly region receives more than 2000 mm precipitation annually about 80% of which receives in 4 months (June-September) and the region was covered by tropical climax forest with diversified flora and fauna just a century back. Due to human pressure, the deep forests were deforested to denuded hills. Moreover, introduction of tillage cultivation practices and uses of chemicals a good number of indigenous flora and fauna have lost their habitats. Continue reading →

The present world’s agriculture is passing a very crucial time. With the advancement of high technology, a rapid development has been made to meet the immediate demand of food and many day-to-day essentials for growing the population of the world. However, this quick advancement seldom considered long term effect of the earth’s environment. Industrialization, improvement of crop, use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and mechanization of cropping culture has brought rapid changes and has imbalanced/disturbed the spontaneous ecosystems. It is true that cropping/farming is a biased culture which solely depends on the desire of the human being. Moreover, multiple needs have made it commercial i.e. market product for profit/benefit. Obviously market commodities always seek immediate result i.e. more profit. To ensure more earnings, agriculture has become more selective and mechanized and more external input based for which we have lost diversity among and within the species.

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ABSTRACT

Since 1995, an elaborate study was conducted on tea plantations of Bangladesh to evaluate the status of tea production. An effort was made to analyze the reasons for low yield and productivity and to find out easy and sustainable practices to improve the yield and production, to meet the growing demand of tea, considering the habit and habitat of tea plants. Importance of tea was studied from the historical past, present consumption trend and prevailing price and its future forecast on its popularity as a safe natural leaf beverage in the health conscious world.

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Jat/Clones, Cultural Practices and Processing

Introduction

Rubber is one of the most important cash crops, with multipurpose uses. It is produced from the latex of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex Adr. De Juss.) Muell. Arg.), an exotic deciduous rain forest tree species of Family Euphorbiaceae. The British planters first introduced it in Bangladesh in the early twentieth century. But commercial plantation was started in 1961 by the government in Chittagong and Sylhet hilly regions. Later on, plantations were expanded in Chittagong Hill Tracts and Madhupur by the government and public enterprises. The British and some other private companies also planted rubber in the fellow lands of tea estates. At present about 25,000 hectare of land is under rubber plantation in Bangladesh, and annual production is about 7,500 tons against 20,000 tons country’s total demand of natural rubber (NR). Although production of NR is far less than the demand still the price is very low, even less than the cost of production, due to competitive low price of NR and synthetic rubber (SR), a bi-product of crude oil, in the international market.

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Introduction

Spicy food is the tradition of Indian Civilization from the time immemorial. Flavoring food and making it tasty by adding different plant parts during cooking or making paste or salad is a very common practice everywhere. Spices are the symbol for aristocracy, health, tonic, immunity, vigor and stimuli. A Bangladeshi cannot think a meal without use of spice.

Underneath the taste and flavor the spices posses immense nutritional and medicinal value which is proved by the today’s scientists. The Arabians and the western traders realized the value of Indian spices and trading began thousand years back. Global trade in spices is expected to attain higher levels due to anticipated advances in the global food industry, and is posed for a major leap in the 21st century (Singh, 2002).

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