Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has set a glaring example of how to utilise every inch of land to boost food production to offset the possible food crisis by making her official residence Ganabhaban as a farmhouse.
The PM has repeatedly been calling upon the people not to leave even a single inch of arable land uncultivated amid global crisis. But she has not only urged the people to increase food production, but also show how to grow food in the lands inside her house.
Hasina, also the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu, is cultivating different varieties of rice, vegetables, flowers, fruits, honey and fish alongside rearing ducks, pigeons and cows in the large courtyard of Ganabhaban. She also cultivated onions, sesame and mustard.
According to Ganabhaban sources, almost half of the total quantity of onions cultivated inside Ganabhaban was harvested on Sunday (February 19). It yielded 1840kg of onions worth about Tk 60,000 to Tk 70,000. More than 2,000 kg of onions will be available in the rest of the land.
PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said the Prime Minister has been urging the people of the country to grow crops on every inch of land to face the global food crisis. “In continuation of this, she herself brought every inch of land of Ganabhaban courtyard under production and set a unique example by making his call to the people a reality,” he said.
Hasina cultivated various types of rice; cauliflower, cabbage, red cabbage, spinach and coriander, broccoli, tomato, gourd, beans, and almost all kinds of winter vegetables in Ganabhaban.
Besides, she cultivated beehives in mustard fields, turmeric, pepper, bay leaves and various spices there.
Among the fruits, mango, jackfruit, banana, litchi, plum, dragon, strawberry are grown inside the Ganabhaban compound.
As the head of the government, Hasina usually spends a busy day but she also looks after the farming and harvesting at her residential complex whenever she gets time, according to sources.
She farms different types of fish, including rui, katal, tilapia, and chital, and even pearls in the pond of Ganabhaban. She enjoys fishing in the lake inside Ganabhaban compound.
The sources said the PM distributes these essential items among the employees at Ganabhaban, as well as the poor people, reserving only a small portion for herself.
Source: United News of Bangladesh