Agriculture Minister Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said that in order to adapt to the changed world situation, agricultural countries like Bangladesh have to think about new research from now on. And global initiatives like 'One CGIAR' can help us take a few steps forward in this new way of thinking about research.
The Minister made the remarks at an online briefing session on 'One CGIAR' organized by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRI) and International Rice Research Institute (IRI) on Thursday.
CGIAR stands for Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research. CGIAR was an informal platform comprising 15 global organizations conducting research on agriculture. Recently, these 15 research institutes have decided to merge and make this platform a formal form.
The name of that official form is 'One CGIAR'. As part of this, these global research institutes will work together on common agricultural issues. The entrepreneurs believe that this will ensure the efficient use of resources as well as achieve the goals of research activities through mutual cooperation.
Welcoming the commitment of One CGIAR to create a world free of hunger by 2030, Agriculture Minister further said that the government of Bangladesh will fully support this initiative in future. He also hoped that other research institutes including IRI would come forward with more vigorous activities in the field of agriculture and economic development in Bangladesh.
Agriculture Secretary Md. Nasiruzzaman said the Bangladesh government has a long-standing relationship with IRI and other organizations on the One CGIAR platform. They have an important role to play in ensuring food security in Bangladesh.
The new 'One CGIAR' platform will have a lot in common with the Bangladesh government's plan for the topics it will prioritize for research. Due to this many new partnerships will be created in the future. IRI Director General. Matthew Morrell said the initiative would not have a negative impact on IRI-BRI ongoing research activities in Bangladesh, but would make it stronger in the future.
BRI director general, Dr. Md. Shahjahan Kabir, Jim Godfrey, a member of the Global Board of Trustees of IRI, Dr. Nafis Mia, South Asia Representative of IRI and Dr. Homnath Bhandari, Bangladesh representative of IRI, Dr. SM Bakhtiyar, Executive Chairman of BARC were also present at the virtual program.
The others organisations of the platform are IFPRI, World Fish, CIMMYT, Africa Rice, ICRISAT, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), World Agro Forestry (ICRAF), The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), International Potato Centre (CIP), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Centre for International Forestry Research, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
In the future, these organisations will work together on food and nutrition security, poverty alleviation and quality of life development, gender equality and social inclusion, climate change and the environment and biodiversity, the organizers said.
