Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque said that the country has achieved record production of rice as a result of timely steps taken by the present government. Average productivity has also increased. Even then rice has to be imported for various reasons. The country does not have accurate statistics on population and demand for rice.
On the other hand, the population is increasing year by year, the cultivable land is decreasing. Land is also being used for cultivation of other crops. The country is now producing 6 million tonnes of corn a year. Corn is being cultivated in the same place where paddy used to be cultivated. At the same time, the non-human consumption of rice has increased a lot. The use of rice as fish, poultry, animal feed and starch is increasing day by day. With all these, there is a shortage of rice in the country.
The minister said this while speaking as the chief guest at the unveiling and discussion of the book titled 'Farm Sector of Bangladesh: Prospects and Challenges' at BARC auditorium in Farmgate, Dhaka on Wednesday. Forum for Information Dissemination on Agriculture (FIDA) and Syngenta Bangladesh Ltd. organized the event. The Agriculture Minister further said that he is bringing and cultivating new varieties of crops from outside the country in any way he can. We encourage this, but at the same time it remains to be seen whether there are any risks or health risks in cultivating these crops in the country whether we need to cultivate these crops at all.
The book 'Farm Sector of Bangladesh: Prospects and Challenges' has been published under the FIDA and Syngenta Bangladesh Fellowship. Dr Abdur Razzaque said "I congratulate the private sector and journalists on this joint initiative. We want to make agriculture commercial, modern and profitable. The media has a huge role to play in this. The private sector must also come forward.”
FIDA President Riaz Ahmed, BADC Chairman Amitabh Sarkar, BARC executive chairman Sheikh Md Bakhtiyar, Director General of Agriculture Marketing Department Mohammad Yusuf, Director General of Bari Nazirul Islam, Director of Agriculture Extension Department Monirul Alam, General Secretary of FIDA Salahuddin Bablu, FIDA Member Kauser Rahman, Managing Director of Syngentar GolamTouhid and others spoke at the programme.
