A tree-planting campaign has been launched in Thakurgaon alongside sugarcane cultivation as part of efforts to expand the country’s green cover, protect the environment and address the impacts of climate change under the directives of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
The campaign, titled “A Green Bond with Sugarcane,” was inaugurated near the Thakurgaon Sugar Mills gate in the Paikpara and Chilarong areas alongside the sugarcane planting programme.
Under the initiative, 1,000 trees will be planted at each sugar mill, with a total of 15,000 trees targeted at 15 mills during the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) has taken the initiative as part of the BNP’s election manifesto commitment to plant 250 million saplings.
BSFIC Chairman Md. Shamsuzzaman Suraj, who inaugurated the programme, urged farmers to plant trees around their homes, along field boundaries and in vacant spaces.
Farmers participating in the programme said planting trees alongside crops could help improve the environment while creating a greener agricultural landscape.
Chilarong farmer Md. Foyez Uddin, who grows cotton as an intercrop with sugarcane, said companion crops provide farmers with additional income, while planting trees around farmland helps improve the environment.
Another farmer, Md. Afzal Hossain of Araji Paikpara, said agricultural fields are not only places for producing crops but can also play an important role in building a greener future for the country.
BSFIC Chairman Shamsuzzaman said extensive tree planting would increase the country’s tree cover, help conserve forests and biodiversity, improve carbon absorption and enhance air quality and environmental balance.
He said the initiative would focus on greening urban and rural areas, roads, educational institutions, coastal regions, chars and government forest lands. Efforts would also be made to develop tree- and water-based ecosystems to address floods, droughts and other environmental risks.
He called for greater public participation in building a nationwide green movement, saying that even a small sapling planted today could eventually provide shade, oxygen and shelter for biodiversity.
He expressed hope that the green initiative in Thakurgaon’s sugarcane fields would gradually spread across the district and contribute to building a cleaner, safer and more sustainable Bangladesh for future generations.
