Oilseed Farming on Fallow and Char Lands Can Reduce Imports in North

Mohsin Raju

Bangladesh still depends on imports for edible oil. A recent report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the country needs about 3.4 million tons of edible oil each year. Oil from local oilseeds meets only about 15 percent of this need. The rest comes from imported crude oil or imported oilseeds.

In this situation, there is room to grow more mustard, sesame, linseed, groundnut, sunflower and other oilseeds. The 16 districts of Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions in the north have farmland, fallow land and river char areas that can be used. Farmers can grow oilseeds in the short gap between the Aman and Boro rice seasons. This can raise the variety of crops grown on the same land.

According to the Agricultural Census 2019 of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Rajshahi division used 325,022 acres for oilseeds. This is about 131,544 hectares. Rangpur division used 125,479 acres, or about 50,799 hectares. Together, the two divisions had about 182,343 hectares under oilseeds.

Rajshahi leads Rangpur in oilseed farming. In 2022-23, the country produced about 768,000 tons of oilseeds. Rajshahi division alone produced about 302,000 tons, the most of any division. In the same year, Rangpur division produced about 69,000 tons.

At the district level, the long term Agricultural Census shows Sirajganj has the most oilseed land, at 128,169 acres. Naogaon follows with 51,001 acres. Panchagarh has 48,194 acres, and Pabna has 47,131 acres.

Recently, mustard has grown the fastest among oilseeds. In the 2025-26 Rabi season, officials set a mustard target of about 389,000 hectares in eight districts of Rajshahi division. They aimed to produce 646,000 tons. Of this land, 182,000 hectares lie in four districts of the Rajshahi agricultural region. The other 207,000 hectares lie in four districts of the Bogura agricultural region.

Mustard farming is also growing fast in Rangpur division. In the 2025-26 season, officials set a target of 148,748 hectares in eight districts. In the five districts of the Rangpur agricultural region, farmers grew mustard on 78,045 hectares. They produced 120,275 tons.

Sunflower is also a promising crop in the north. In 2024, farmers grew sunflower on 221 hectares in the Rangpur region. This included 108 hectares in Kurigram, 69 in Gaibandha, 43 in Rangpur and 1 in Nilphamari.

River chars are even more important. In the five districts of the Rangpur agricultural region, farmers grow crops every year on about 82,000 hectares of chars and riverbeds. Farmers grow mustard, sesame, linseed, groundnut, sunflower and other crops on the chars of the Teesta, Dharla, Brahmaputra, Jamuna and other rivers.

Mustard has also spread widely on the chars of the Padma and Jamuna. The Department of Agricultural Extension says landless and marginal farmers have joined mustard farming on the sandy chars of the Padma basin in the Rajshahi region.

For soybean, the northern chars are not yet a major commercial growing area. Most of the soybean grown in Bangladesh goes to the animal feed industry, not to oil making. The country relies on imported soybeans and crude oil for edible soybean oil. So experts say farmers need trial expansion on the chars of the Padma, Jamuna, Teesta and Dharla. The trials should test regional varieties, sowing time, salinity or waterlogging, markets and oil extraction facilities.

The use of edible oil has also changed. According to USDA, about 50 percent of total demand is palm oil, 28 percent is soybean oil, 19 percent is mustard oil and 3 percent is other oils. A 2021 study found 51 percent palm, 43 percent soybean and 5 percent mustard. So the market share changes with the source and the year.

The country needs 3.4 million tons of edible oil. Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions hold about 21 to 22 percent of the population. Based on this share, the two divisions may need about 700,000 to 750,000 tons a year. This is not an official regional figure. It is a rough estimate based on the national demand.

So the country can produce more mustard and sunflower oil if farmers use the fallow land, the land after the Aman harvest, and the chars in a planned way. Experts also say the country needs local oil extraction mills, collection and storage systems, and fair prices for farmers. With these, oilseed farming will not only cut import reliance. It can also create a new source of income for farmers in the north.