Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque has said that people in many countries eat about 200 grams of rice per person, while in Bangladesh the figure is about 400 grams. "If we can bring this down, it will be possible to take our rice production to a sustainable level," he said.

He said rice use would fall if people ate more nutritious food such as milk, fish, meat, eggs and fruit.

The minister was speaking as chief guest at the opening of an agriculture conference titled "50 Years of Bangladesh: Transformation and Achievements of Agriculture" at the Sonargaon Hotel in the capital on Sunday. The conference was organised by the Bangladesh Agricultural Journalists Forum (BAJF) and Bonik Barta.

"Thanks to the timely initiatives of the present government, there was no food crisis in the country even during the coronavirus pandemic," the minister said. "If the country's fertile land and water can be used properly, agriculture will go much further."

The opening session was moderated by Dewan Hanif Mahmud, editor of the daily Bonik Barta. Speakers included Catherine Davis Stevens, director of the USAID Bangladesh mission; Robert D. Simpson, FAO country representative; Md Hamidur Rahman, former director general of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE); Dr F H Ansari, managing director and chief executive of ACI Agribusiness; and Sheikh Nasir Uddin, chairman of Akij Group. The keynote paper was presented by Dr Md Shahjahan Kabir, director general of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI).

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