Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque, claiming there is no food shortage in the country, expressed hope that surplus crops will be exported to the international market.

Onion prices will fall within the next 15 to 20 days, he said. Because onions are perishable, farmers cannot store them for long, and prices have risen because the onion season is now in its final stage. Prices will come down as soon as summer and imported onions reach the market, the minister said.

He was speaking as chief guest on Sunday morning (dated 10 September in the report) at the opening of the "Central Research Review and Programme Formulation Workshop 2021" at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) in Gazipur.

"There has been an unprecedented revolution in agriculture. We have no shortage of food. We will export our surplus crops all over the world. Our preparations for the international market are almost complete. Exports of agricultural products have risen a great deal in the past year. Through mechanisation and modern labs we will soon be able to enter the international market. To put the agricultural revolution to better economic use, we have to go to both the local and the international market," the minister said.

He added: "Our land is shrinking and our population is growing. This is our big challenge. Scientists have to work with this challenge in mind and work hard. We must contribute to meeting it. We want to build Bangladesh into a beautiful Bangladesh, a truly prosperous Bangladesh."

Before opening the workshop, the minister visited two state-of-the-art labs set up in the plant pathology and soil science divisions and opened a newly built lab-cum-functional building at the Oilseed Research Centre. He also visited stalls displaying farm machinery and technology.

"Bangladesh's climate and land are very fertile and favourable. This is our greatest asset. The Honourable Prime Minister has generously funded various development activities in agriculture. The poverty rate in the country is now 20%, which we want to bring down to 13-14% by 2030, and we want to bring extreme poverty below 10% by 2023," he said.

"People's eating habits in the country are changing, but for this people's incomes must rise. We want to raise our per capita income to $5,000, because to become a middle-income country we have to raise per capita income. Agriculture is a big part of our economy. The big challenge before Bangladesh is producing nutritious and safe food. People all over the world are very health-conscious. They want safe food. To ensure vitamin-rich safe food we have to raise our incomes. So we want to take agriculture towards modernisation and mechanisation, and through commercialisation make farming a profitable sector for farmers," he said.

The opening session was chaired by BARI Director General Dr Nazirul Islam. Special guests who spoke included State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russell, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Mesbahul Islam, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Dr Sheikh Mohammad Bakhtiar, former secretary and former BARC executive chairman Dr Zahurul Karim, and BARI founding director and emeritus scientist Dr Kazi M Badruddoza.

State Minister Md Zahid Ahsan Russell said: "Scientists at BARI and BRRI are developing various high-yielding crop varieties as well as modern technologies. Through these innovations they are playing an effective role in solving the labour shortage."

At the workshop, held in the institute's Kazi Badruddoza auditorium, Dr Nazirul Islam presented the keynote paper, "BARI's research strategy for achieving SDG-2030 and Vision 2041: a roadmap".

According to BARI, the workshop was organised to evaluate the programmes taken up in the last financial year and, in light of that experience, to draw up next year's research programme. The workshop's technical sessions will be held all day on 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 October.

The research review takes place in three stages: regional research review, internal research review and central research review. At these workshops, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), farmer representatives and representatives of government and private organisations discuss local and regional farm problems in detail, and research is carried out in light of those discussions.

BARI is currently conducting research on 211 crops. So far it has developed a total of 1,194 technologies, including 602 high-yielding (including hybrid), disease-resistant and stress-tolerant varieties of 134 crops and 592 improved production technologies. These technologies have greatly increased the country's production of oilseeds, pulses, potatoes, wheat, vegetables, spices and fruit.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.