Food security should be sustainable, thus agriculture minister Dr. Md. Abdus Shahid called for the creation of new cultivars of high-yielding, short-lived crops as well as increased food production through enhanced research.
The Minister made this call at a workshop titled 'Bangabandhu-Pierre Elliott Trudeau Agriculture Technology Centre and Bangladesh Research Capacity Building' at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council's (BARC) auditorium in Khamarbari of the capital, on Wednesday.
He said Bangladesh has achieved unprecedented success in food production under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The nation's subsistence farming is currently quickly becoming more commercialised. There is an abundance of food in the nation right now.
Yet, as the nation's population grows and the amount of land under cultivation declines, research must intensify to create new, high-yielding, short-lived crop varieties if food security is to remain sustainable in the future. It is also necessary to increase food production.
Additionally, according to Abdus Shahid, the nation's scientists and research institutions are sincerely striving to preserve food production and security for the nation's expanding population. It is imperative that new and improved crop varieties and technologies be developed quickly.
BARC Executive Chairman Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar, secretary of Ministry of Agriculture Wahida Akter, Canadian Ambassador to Dhaka Lilly Nicholls, Vice-President Research at the University of Saskatchewan Baljit Singh, and others were also present at the event.
The Bangabandhu-Pierre Elliott Trudeau Agriculture Technology Centre was established at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute premises in 2020, as per the Memorandum of Understanding between BARC and the Global Institute of Food Security (GIFS) of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. This initiative was spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The centre was officially opened in February 2023 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. By establishing this centre, the two nations' agricultural cooperation will be strengthened and they will be able to capitalise on Canadian technology and experience.