17/07/2010 (The New Nation, Bangladesh) - The speakers have stressed on the need for planting the saplings of palm oil trees on a large scale to meet the family demand of edible oil, maintain the ecological balance and enhance the beauty of the nature.

"A palm tree gives us at least 40 KGs of oil per annum by which a family with four or five members can fulfill its yearly demand of edible oil easily. On the other hand, if more than one tree can be raised, they will be sources of income all the year round and help change the socio-economic condition of the growers undoubtedly", they said.

They said this in a motivational meeting on palm oil cultivation at the hall room of Kathalbari Samaj Kalyan Sangstha (KSKS) under Sadar Upazila of Kurigram district on Thursday.

Bangladesh Palm Oil Development Project arranged it in cooperation with The Happy Bangladesh and its partner organizations Palli Unnayan Sangstha (PUS), working for popularizing the cultivation of palm trees in northern region including Gaibandha, Kurigram and Rangpur districts to eradicate poverty and 'Monga' under motivational programme.

The cultivation methods and the oil collection process from the ripe palm fruit were elaborately described by manager of the project Abdur Rahim Badal side by side with distributing the leaflets to the participants in this regard.

Presided over by Khairul Alam Lal, chairman of the KSKS, the meeting was also addressed, among others, by chief executive of PUS Anisur Rahman Joarder, executive director Ashraful Islam, district coordinator Masud Ahmed and journalist M Shahiduzzaman.

A large number of people including the farmers, public representatives, teachers, the local elite and the journalists took part in the meeting.

Talking to BSS, the chief executive of PUS said they have taken a massive programme to plant the saplings of palm oil in the northern region in the years ahead to change the socio economic conditions of the poor and to advance the northern districts towards development through popularizing its cultivation to the growers.