Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque Sunday said the country needs to be self sufficient in terms of food production to combat any famine-like crisis.
He said: “If we witness any food crisis or famine due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it might be difficult to get food from global sources even if we have enough money to offer.”
The minister said it at a view exchanging meeting of the ministry, held at its office in the city on the occasion of the new calendar year.
He put especial emphasis on raising production of rice, vegetables, wheat, maize and other produces domestically through active involvement of both the famers, officials concerned and the private sector.
Dr Razzaque said that the key challenge for our food security is that the population has been increasing by 2.2-2.03 million heads every year.
“But due to multiple reasons, the cultivable land has been declining,” he added.
He said from this limited piece of land, people have to be provided with their required food as well as animal and poultry feeds.
“And for this, the concerned agricultural agencies have to work with more sincerity and dedication to help the farmers adopt modern innovative agricultural tools aiming to boost production,” said the minister.
Dr Razzaque also instructed the agriculture ministry officials to go to the field level regularly for motivating both extension officials and farmers.
He said every piece of land should be brought under cultivation to make the country self sufficient in terms of food production.
Additional Secretary of the Ministry (Extension) Md Hasanuzzaman Kallol said, the government is eying to raise Boro cultivation by 50,000 hectares this year to attain 20.5 million tonnes of production target.
The agri ministry has secured the second position in the implementation of the Annual Performance Agreement (APA) in the fiscal year 2019-20.
It is twice in a row that the ministry has been ranked second out of 51 ministries / divisions in performing APA.
“Despite achieving such success, we all have to be more active and dedicated in implementing the APA for the betterment of the farming sector,” said, Dr Razzaque.
Agri ministry additional secretaries Md Abdur Rauf, Md Mahbubul Islam and Kamala Ranjan Das, Director General of seed wing Balai Krishna Hajra, also spoke, among others.
