Local Member of Parliament Dr. Mosleh Uddin Farid has called for establishing a full-fledged agricultural university at the Jagadishpur Cotton Research, Training and Seed Multiplication Farm in Jhikargacha upazila of Jashore. He raised the demand during Tuesday’s session of the National Parliament, noting that the farm’s operations have become stagnant due to manpower shortages, mismanagement, and long-term neglect. He argued that setting up a university there would utilize the unused land and open new opportunities for agricultural education in Bangladesh.

The farm, inaugurated on November 19, 1980, by then-President Ziaur Rahman, was established with financial assistance from the Government of Bangladesh and the former European Economic Community. Covering 63.70 hectares, about 14.72 hectares remain unused. The facility currently conducts research in five disciplines and includes residential training facilities for 120 people. Local journalists and agricultural officials believe the existing infrastructure could easily support a university and that the region’s fertile soil and low disaster risk make it ideal for agricultural research.

Officials added that nearby water bodies and fallow land could also support fisheries and livestock research, further expanding the scope of agricultural studies in the area.