Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid, minister for agriculture, fisheries and livestock, has instructed those concerned to work closely to avoid crop losses in the haor region.

He said this as chief guest at a meeting on Sunday in the agriculture ministry's conference room at the Secretariat, reviewing the overall situation of boro cultivation, production and harvesting in the haors.

Agriculture secretary Rafiqul I Mohamed chaired the meeting, which was joined by field administration and agriculture department officials from the haor districts.

Describing the haor region as the country's store of crops, especially rice, the minister said the haor paddy must not be lost. Local administration, public representatives and everyone else must work together to ensure the harvest goes smoothly, he said.

On timely harvesting, he said enough combine harvesters must be available on time and machines out of order must be repaired quickly. If needed, harvesters should be hired from neighbouring areas so that the harvest is finished on time.

The minister gave assurance that there would be no shortage of fuel for harvesters during the harvest and that fuel supply would be kept normal.

He said the weather in the haor region must be watched and advance preparations kept to deal with any situation. He also instructed officials to arrange for harvesting by farm labourers alongside harvesters.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.