President Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has called for Bangladesh's agriculture to be made a profitable sector. At a meeting during a visit to the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) in Gazipur on Saturday morning, he said that because farming no longer pays enough, labourers are leaving it and farms cannot find workers. Krishi Shomoy carried the report from the state news agency BSS.
Although output has risen, he said, farmers are denied fair prices for lack of proper storage and processing, so storage technology must be developed and the private sector brought in. In the north, he noted, farmers grow plenty of potatoes but get poor prices and sometimes have to dump them on the road, yet seed potato prices later climb and potatoes cost far more by the time they reach Dhaka.
He urged wider use of cold storage and modern technology to keep tomatoes and other vegetables and fruit for longer, not only potatoes. Praising researchers' success with onions, he said the country once spent heavily on onion imports and no longer needs to, which is a positive change. He also stressed processing and storage alongside higher fruit output.
Voicing concern over heavy use of chemical fertiliser, he said excess fertiliser damages soil and crop quality, and that farmer awareness and sustainable farm technology are needed. Without proper facilities for agricultural scientists, he said, it will be hard to attract able students to the profession, and he asked the agriculture minister to move to change the pension rules for agricultural scientists.
Agriculture Minister Mohammad Aminur Rashid, agriculture secretary Md Selim Khan, BARI director general Md Monjurul Kadir and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) director general Dr Md Rafiqul Islam attended. The BARI director general presented the institute's work.
The president then toured BARI's gene bank and exhibition stalls and planted a BARI Kanthal-6 jackfruit sapling at the Plant Genetic Resources Centre (PGRC).
Reporting: BSS, via Krishi Shomoy
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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