The
soil of Bangladesh is wonderfully fertile. Many rivers water our land and carry
alluvial to it. Rains are copious here. As a result, most people of our country
live by agriculture, and they grow a large variety of crops every year.
Crops are mainly of two kinds-food crops and cash crops. Food crops are eaten
and cash crops bring in money. Rice, Wheat, Pulse, Maize, Fruits, Vegetables
etc. are food crops. Jute, Tea, Cotton, Sugarcane, Rubber, Bamboo, Oil seeds,
Tobacco, Timber, Betel leaf etc. are called cash crops.
Rice is our main food crop. Four
kinds of rice are cultivated in Bangladesh-Aman, Aus and Irri. Rice grows all
over the country. We produce a large quantity of rice every year and yet this
large quantity is not at all adequate to meet our total demand. The average
annual production of rice in the country stands between 14 and 15.5 million
tons or 300 and 400 million mounds. In recent tears we have been growing some
wheat in winter. The cultivation of wheat has been intensified considerably ti
reduce too much dependence on rice. Maize, barly and jawar also grow in a small
quantity. Pulse like musuri, moog, arhar, chesari and chhola grow in our land,
although their total production is inadequate for our purpose. Fruits like
mangoes, pineapples, oranges, jack-fruits, bananas, coconuts grow in our
country in plenty. Bananas and coconuts grow all the year round. Vegetables
like cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots beans, brinjals, onions, raddish, patal
etc. grow abundantly here.
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| Cauliflower |
Jute is the principal cash crop of
our country. We grow the best quality jute in the world and it is still world
best and most durable packing material. Three-fourths of the export earning of
the country comes from jute. In the industrial sectors too it employs the
largest labor force. Thus it is still the mainstay of our economy. Tea is the
next important item on the list of our exports. It grows in sylhet and
Chittagong. There is a great demand of it in foreign markets. Cotton grows in Rangpur,
Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Mymensingh and Chittagong Hill Tracts. It is used in the
cotton mills of the country. The sugar-cane is another important cash crop of
our country. It is the best raw materials for our sugar mills. Rubber
grows on a small scale in the Bandanna area in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Various kinds of oil seeds like mustard, linseed and til grow in the
country. Some of them are exported and some are used in the country. A lot of
tobacco grows in Bangladesh. Some quantity of it is used in our cigarette factories
but the greater part of it is exported abroad. Besides, these the forests of Suburbans and Chittagong Hill Tracts yield a large quantity or timber. Betel
Leaves are also grown here both for home consumption and for export.
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