Revive agri institutions for future food security
Bangladesh needs to revitalise its agricultural institutions by providing its scientists with necessary training and incentives and resources to deal with future challenges of producing adequate food, fish and animals for the growing population, experts said yesterday.
They said the country made astounding progress in food production, but given the challenges of climate change, declining farmland and rising population, sustaining the growth has become difficult.
Rice production rose from 32 million tonnes in 2011 to 37 million tonnes now, and fish production from 1.7 million tonnes in 2001 to 3.7 million tonnes, according to official data.
"However, agriculture is now becoming complex, knowledge intensive, demanding and diversified. We need stress-tolerant, low-input, high quality and fast growing varieties of crops," said Dr Wais Kabir, former executive chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC).
Besides, demand is now shifting from rice or crops to other value-added products like vegetables, fruits, oil-seeds, fish, milk and livestock, he said.
With the demands shifting, the government has to revitalise the agricultural institutions, the noted agricultural scientist told the concluding panel of two-day fifth national convention and international agricultural conference, organised by the capital's Krishibid Institution of Bangladesh (KIB) in its auditorium.
Currently, only 20 of some 1,800 agricultural scientists of 12 institutions in the country hold PhDs, while it is 80 percent in neighbouring India.
Often, agriculturists are not promoted in time, leaving them frustrated, Kabir said.
He underscored that it is critical to conduct quality research in order to sustain the future agricultural growth amid challenges.
The success of future agriculture would depend on linkage between strong agricultural institutions and extension departments, Kabir observed.
Commending scientists for contribution to the growth of country's agriculture, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed assured them of asking the authorities concerned to ensure that the agriculturists are recognised and given due incentives.
Dr Ajoy Kumar Roy, director general of the Department of Livestock Services, said developing better varieties of livestock that grow faster and give more milk, emergence of newer diseases and ensuring safety of the animals are among the greater challenges the sector encounters today.
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