FBCCI President Mahbubul Alam called for focusing on research and use of technology in agriculture development. And to ensure sustainable development in agriculture, FBCCI Senior Vice President Md. Amin Helali called for taking short-term, medium-term and long-term agro-based plan. Also, FBCCI panel advisor and agriculture personality Shaikh Siraj feels that it is necessary to create a crop calendar in the country to increase the productivity of agriculture and ensure that farmers get fair prices.
The speakers made these proposals in the standing committee meeting on Agriculture, Agro-Processing and Agro-Based Industries at FBCCI’s Motijheel office on Wednesday (March 20).
FBCCI president Mahbubul Alam, while speaking as president in the meeting said that, the most important thing in the development of agriculture is quality and improved varieties of seeds. We need to focus on research to improve seed quality. Also, more attention should be paid to the use of technology. As technology improves in agriculture, productivity will increase. Special emphasis should be given on building cool-chain network across the country to prevent wastage of agricultural products at various stages from production to marketing.
The businessmen and analysts of the agricultural sector gave special importance to the availability of seeds of improved varieties at the farmer level, strengthening the food innovation process of high-yielding and climate-tolerant varieties and research in order to achieve the desired productivity in agriculture. Besides, they emphasized agricultural mechanization, establishment of specialized cold storage, improved supply system and processing of agricultural products to reduce production cost.
Calling for a change in the mindset of the farmers, the FBCCI president said that the farmers should be assured of a fair price for the produce. Policies should be implemented to protect their interests.
In order to ensure sustainable development, FBCCI Senior Vice President Md. Amin Helali called for taking short-term, medium-term and long-term agro-based plan.
Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, Chairman of the Committee and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PRAN-RFL Group highlighted the importance of ensuring maximum utilization of agricultural land and increasing productivity, keeping future food security and growing demand in consideration. He suggested to focus on increasing the production of crops like horticulture, fisheries, livestock, poultry along with pulses and oilseeds in addition to traditional crops.
FBCCI panel advisor and prominent media personality Shaikh Siraj said, it is necessary to create a crop calendar in the country to increase agricultural productivity and ensure farmers get fair prices. He suggested the formation of farmers’ associations to identify and solve farmers’ problems. Sheikh Siraj called for public-private joint initiatives to implement compliance and GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) in value addition, processing and export of agricultural products.
Director-in-charge of the committee and director of FBCCI Mohammad Ishaqul Hossain Sweet called for specific suggestions and recommendations in written form to the members of the committee to find out the challenges and solutions of the agriculture sector.
The co-chairman and members of the committee advised to build an accurate and integrated database of demand, production and stock of agricultural products by participating in the discussion. They urged the government to be strict in controlling stock trading of agricultural products to keep the market stable.
FBCCI Vice President Md. Munir Hossain; Director and Secretary General of FBCCI Md. Alamgir; Agriculturists and Entrepreneurs in Agriculture Sector were present in the meeting among others.