The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has expressed interest in working with Bangladesh to modernize the agricultural sector and increase production using modern technology. The interest was expressed during a meeting between State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak and FAO country Representative Robert D. Simpson at his office at ICT Tower in Agargaon on Sunday.
Robert Simpson also said that they will work together on various issues related to agri-mechanisms, agricultural technology blended learning and agriculture to introduce smart agriculture in Bangladesh. To this end, the ICT Department, Ministry of Agriculture and FAO jointly organized a workshop and agreed to create a road map for 2-5 years.
During this time they discussed the realities of the Fourth Revolution using modern technologies including robotics, IoT to increase agricultural production, market expansion, research in agriculture, agricultural market place, local innovation and taking necessary steps to develop rural economy.
The state minister for ICT told the UN representative that a pilot project called Smart Village has been taken up in 10 villages of the country through the EDC project under the ICT department. One Shop, ekPay app has created a bridge between farmers, buyers and sellers, creating opportunities to buy and sell agricultural products. He said that meeting the growing demand for food and smart agriculture is not possible without the use of modern technology. The ICT department is already working with the academia to produce food using modern agri-machinery. We welcome the FAO’s interest in this work. We hope that through joint ventures we will be able to facilitate global food availability.
Additional Secretary of the ICT Department Dr. Khandaker Azizul Islam, Country Representative of International Fund for Agricultural Development Arnold Hamillers, FAO and senior officials of ICT Department and a2i Project were present at the meeting.