Bangladesh should double down on its efforts in processing and marketing of agricultural products alongside increasing productivity of the sector, agriculturists and experts said at a webinar yesterday.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) organised the programme titled “Bangabandhu’s agricultural thoughts: challenges and prospects of the future”.
While presenting a keynote paper, Atiur Rahman, a former governor of Bangladesh Bank, said to make agriculture more dynamic, adequate funding and the use of new technologies — the internet of things and artificial intelligence — must be ensured.
“We need to be more proactive in solving the problems in marketing of agricultural products,” he said, highlighting the various steps taken by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the agricultural sector.
Educated youths should be given the opportunity to develop as agri-entrepreneurs and loans, insurance, credit guarantees will have to be ensured for them, Atiur said.
Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman & CEO of Pran-RFL Group, said, “We need to do more work on food safety and create awareness about it.”
It is necessary to produce better quality and more value-added agricultural products to compete in the international market, he said.
Addressing the event as chief guest, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has thought and worked for the development and welfare of agriculture and farmers throughout his life.
Therefore, immediately after independence, Bangabandhu took landmark decisions and initiatives for the development of the miserable and oppressed farmers of the country, he said.
Following the foundation laid by Bangabandhu, the present government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is continuously adopting and implementing agri-friendly policies, he said.
The minister said the next challenge in agriculture was the marketing of agricultural products. Marketing of agricultural products is very important in making agriculture profitable and ensuring farmers get a fair price, he said.
“If the market for agricultural products cannot be increased in the country and abroad, the development that has taken place in agriculture will not be sustainable. That is why we have to come forward in agro-industrialisation to increase agricultural processing and marketing,” he added.
Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said food processing agencies need to come forward to export agricultural products.
State Minister for Planning Prof Shamsul Alam said Bangabandhu laid the institutional foundation for the success that has come in today’s agriculture. “Because agriculture is the main basis of development,” he said.
FBCCI President Jashim Uddin, Senior Vice President Mostafa Azad Chowdhury and media personality Shykh Seraj also spoke at the programme.
