The Russian Federation has gifted Bangladesh 30,000 tonnes of potash fertiliser through the World Food Programme (WFP). The gift was handed over to Bangladesh under the WFP on Monday (19 January).

A ceremony was held to mark the occasion at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) at Khamarbari in the capital. The chief guest was Lieutenant General (retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, adviser for agriculture and home affairs. The special guest was Alexander G Khozin, the Russian Federation's ambassador in Dhaka.

Also present were David Dhamas, acting deputy country director of the World Food Programme, and Dmitry Boldyrev, global head of sales at Russia's Uralchem. Agriculture ministry secretary Dr Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian presided.

The ceremony was told that Uralchem, a leading Russian fertiliser producer, is supplying the fertiliser to Bangladesh.

The agriculture adviser said fertiliser supply has emerged as a major challenge in the current global context. The adverse effects of climate change, an unstable international market and various global crises are being felt in the farm sector. In such a situation, international cooperation and partnership are more important than ever before, and today's initiative is a fine example of constructive global cooperation, he said.

The adviser said the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) currently holds a total of 1,035,000 tonnes of fertiliser other than urea, the highest since the organisation was founded in 1961.

He added that the farm sector has made significant progress during the interim government's tenure. Compared with the previous three years, in the 2024-25 fiscal year rice production rose 6 per cent, potato production 14 per cent, onion production 22 per cent and vegetable production 3.70 per cent, while mustard production rose a significant 86 per cent.

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