Farmers’ Problems Associated with Cultivation of Sunflower: A Case Study of Barguna District, Bangladesh

Sunflower cultivation is a profitable enterprise to the farmers, but in the coastal part of Bangladesh sunflower is a new crop for the Rabi season. The present study was conducted to determine the socio-economic characteristics of the sunflower growers and to identify the problems facing from production to marketing in Barguna district. The study was conducted in coastal belt of Barguna district from where 100 samples were randomly collected. Descriptive statistical method was used for the analysis. The results revealed that seed, labor, irrigation and marketing of sunflower oil were top of the problems faced by the sunflower growers. Ranking of the specific problems showed that high charge of labor ranked first, salinity problem ranked second, stem rot ranked third, low market price than production cost ranked forth, training ranked fifth, high price of seed ranked sixth. Irrigation machinery, proper marketing facilities, reducing price of seed, appropriate training programs, setting up oil processing mill are the necessary solutions to overcome sunflower cultivation problems.