Minister of Agriculture visits BRAC's Agriculture Research Centre

The Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Begum Matia Chowdhury MP visited the BRAC Agriculture and Research Development Centre (BARDC) on the 8th of July 2011. She was accompanied by the Executive Director of BRAC, Mr Mahabub Hossain. C Q K Mustaq Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture also accompanied the minister during the visit. She observed our research initiatives inside our laboratory and the end results in the trial fields.

The Honourable Minister talked about the problem Bangladesh faces in attaining self-sufficiency in food production - a gradual decrease of agricultural land coupled with an increase in population. It has led us towards vertical expansion– producing more food with the same area of land.

The minister stressed the importance of public private partnerships. The government has a strong drive toward food security but complementary efforts in the fields of research, production of quality seed is an integral and important part for Bangladesh to move forward in its drive towards self-sufficiency in food production. BRAC researches innovative solutions towards food security, resulting in hybrid crops which give higher yield resulting in more food and more profits for marginalised farmers. The development of successful hybrid varieties is an important step on a national scale and a major effort in complementing government efforts.

The Honourable Minister talked about developing multiple cropping short maturing crop varieties – rice seeds which matures in a shorter time, and can be harvested and cropped twice or thrice instead of the traditional approach of single cropping. In line with Government strategy, 2010 saw the introduction of three new short maturing varieties, the result of the research efforts of BRAC’s scientists.

Climate change with rising temperatures and rising water levels threatens our food production levels as we move ahead into the future. Frequent flooding has posed a major threat to destroy our crops. Begum Matia Chowdhury talked about facing these challenges. She was introduced to our work with submergence tolerant rice varieties for the coastal regions of Bangladesh, an area with potential but not used for traditional farming.

In her speech, the Honourable Minister appreciated BRAC’s efforts in alleviating poverty and hunger in the country, and especially in the agricultural sector.

By Faisal Rezwan, BRAC Communications