Farmers are becoming more interested in growing nutritious crops, but the main obstacles are a lack of continuity in the work and a shortage of quality seed, speakers said. If these problems are solved, farmers' interest will grow further, they said.

They were speaking at a national workshop on the "Strengthening Nutrition and Food Security through Agricultural Development" project, held on the morning of Wednesday, 18 June, at the Soil Resource Development Institute hall in Khamarbari, Dhaka. The project itself organised the workshop.

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) director general Md Saiful Alam presided. The chief guest was Md Mahbubul Haque Patwari, additional secretary (planning wing) at the Ministry of Agriculture. Special guests were Md Abdus Sattar, director of the DAE's project implementation and ICT wing, and Md Habibullah, director of the administration and finance wing.

Md Habibullah conducted the technical session, and project director A.N.M. Anwarul Hasan gave the welcome address and presented the project's activities.

A.N.M. Anwarul Hasan said the Tk 138 crore project began in January 2023 and will end in 2027. It is being implemented in 155 upazilas of 49 districts in eight divisions. To spread the cultivation of nutrient-rich crops, nutrition and food security are to be ensured through 13,718 demonstrations of various crops and the creation of 155 nutrient-rich crop villages.

He said that, as a strategy to raise farm output, the project aims to achieve nutrition and food security for 308,618 farm families and raise the incomes of 37,200 farmers, men and women, and that seven mini nutrition labs will be set up at seven regional offices of BARTAN.

On the project's achievements, he said that in the 2024-25 fiscal year it produced 268.64 tonnes of zinc rice on 99 acres, 881.71 tonnes of maize on 198 acres, 1,402 tonnes of sweet potato on 99 acres, 1,352.07 tonnes of sweet pumpkin on 151.8 acres, 73.39 tonnes of groundnut on 99 acres and 72.149 tonnes of pulses on 132 acres.

From 2022-23 to 2024-25, 464.35 tonnes of vermicompost were produced under the project, and 6,360 farmers, men and women, have been trained to improve their skills. Demonstrations held so far include 300 of zinc-enriched rice varieties, 300 each of sweet potato and groundnut, 600 of maize, and 460 of crops such as sweet pumpkin, French beans, cucumber, carrot, broccoli, coloured cabbage, cauliflower and aroids. Growing zinc-enriched BRRI dhan84, BRRI dhan100 and BRRI dhan102 is proving successful, and rice from these nutrient-rich varieties helps improve children's nutrition, he said.

Md Saiful Alam said the reasons for lagging behind in nutrition were a lack of transparency and a lack of knowledge. He said coordination among projects was needed.

Special guest Md Abdus Sattar said 29 projects are currently running. Farmers on the Padma chars at Bagha are becoming interested in cultivation, he said, and any new variety is being taken to the field within a year. He called for transparency in all areas, including finances.

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