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RANGPUR, Nov 17, 2025 (BSS) - Farmers are continuing cultivation of sweet 
potato in full swing aiming to produce 43,345 tonnes of the popular crop now 
in Rangpur agricultural region during the current 2025-2026 Rabi season. 
 
Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) told BSS that a 
target of producing 43,345 tonnes of sweet potato has been set from 1,750 
hectares of land for all five districts of the region this time.
 
The fixed target includes production of 5,700 tonnes of sweet potato from 285 
hectares of land in Rangpur, 17,750 tonnes from 720 hectares in Gaibandha, 
14,645 tonnes from 505 hectares in Kurigram, 3,220 tonnes from 140 hectares 
in Lalmonirhat and 2,030 tonnes from 100 hectares of land in Nilphamari 
districts.
 
In the last 2024-2025 Rabi season, farmers produced 39,862 tonnes of sweet 
potato by cultivating the crop on 1,653 hectares of land in Rangpur, 
Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari districts of the region.
 
"Farmers have, so far, brought 650 hectares of land under sweet potato 
cultivation as the process of sowing seeds and plantation of seedlings 
continues in the region," Additional Director of the DAE at its regional 
office Agriculturist Md Sirajul Islam said.
 
Having repeatedly enjoyed bumper yields and good prices in recent years, many 
people in flood-affected char and riverbank areas are expanding sweet potato 
cultivation on sandy, barren and char lands, along with many farmers on the 
mainland.

Since sandy-loam and sandy soils are suitable for sweet potato cultivation, 
there is a bright potential for increasing the cultivation of the low-cost 
crop using minimal fertiliser and irrigation water in char lands.
 
"Sweet potato cultivation is highly profitable and its cultivation is 
expanding every year, with production recently increasing in all five 
districts of the region," he said.
 
Md Mamunur Rashid, a PhD Fellow in the Department of Agricultural Extension 
(DAE) at Dinajpur Haji Mohammad Danesh University of Science and Technology, 
said that sweet potato production can be further increased by providing 
training, latest technology, and easy-to-use agricultural loans to char 
people.
 
Sweet potato contains vitamin A and C and mineral elements, which are absent 
in rice. It is enriched with protein, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, carotene 
and vitamin B1 and B2, which are essential for the human body. 
 
An adult person can meet daily demand for 13 gram vitamin-A by consuming a 
single sweet potato.
 
"People in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, African and Latin American 
countries eat sweet potatoes as a substitute for rice, while it is widely 
used as a food in the United States and Japan," Rashid added.
 
Agriculturist Dr M A Mazid, who got Independence Award-2018 in food security 
category, said people in the char areas of the Rangpur agricultural region 
are cultivating sweet potatoes and are widely consuming it as an alternative 
food to rice.
 
He said that sweet potatoes can be processed and mixed with other ingredients 
for its versatile uses to make many delicious foods like 'halwa', 'payesh', 
bread, 'pauruti', biscuits, pastries and cakes.
 
"If the general public gets into the habit of eating sweet potatoes, we can 
reduce the pressure on rice," Dr Mazid said, adding that sweet potatoes 
contain similar carbohydrates, more nutrients and vitamins than rice.