Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the government is working to ensure the people's nutrition security.

"Thanks to the farmer-friendly policies and programmes adopted by our government, Bangladesh today is self-sufficient in producing food grains, fish, meat and eggs, and on the threshold of self-sufficiency in milk production," she said.

In a message issued on Friday ahead of World Food Day 2021 on 16 October, the Prime Minister said Bangladesh now ranks second in the world in jute and jackfruit production, third in rice and vegetables, seventh in mango and potato, eighth in guava, third in inland open-water fish production and fifth in closed-water fish production. The country's total food grain production has risen to 4 crore 53 lakh 43 thousand tonnes, she said.

"I am glad to know that, as every year, Bangladesh, like other UN member states, is going to observe World Food Day on 16 October at the initiative of the agriculture ministry. This year's theme is 'Our actions are our future. Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life.' I think it is apt and timely in the changed times of the coronavirus," she said.

Sheikh Hasina said that, in continuation of the plans and work of the greatest Bengali of all time, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the present Awami League government has over the past twelve and a half years been taking and implementing various farmer-friendly and practical measures for agricultural development.

"After forming the government in 2009, giving top priority to agricultural development and farmers' welfare, we have been adopting and implementing major plans in the light of Vision 2041, including the National Agriculture Policy 2018, the Safe Food Act, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Delta Plan 2100," she said. "For farmers we have arranged financial support for fertiliser, diesel, electricity and farm mechanisation, as well as agricultural incentives and rehabilitation, farm loans, distribution of agricultural input assistance cards, bank accounts opened for Tk 10, the introduction of e-agriculture, and the development of climate- and risk-tolerant crop varieties and technologies. We have increased allocations for agricultural education and research. As a result, subsistence farming is today turning into commercial agriculture."

The Prime Minister said 100 economic zones are being built across the country, which will help achieve self-sufficiency in supplying raw materials for agro-based industries and create large-scale employment.

"We are working to build the Golden Bangladesh of the Father of the Nation's dreams. Insha Allah, through everyone's joint efforts, we will be able to establish Bangladesh in the world as a developed, prosperous and modern country," she said.

The Prime Minister wished success to all the programmes taken up to mark World Food Day 2021.

Source: Desh Rupantor. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.