Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said Wednesday that agricultural production has quadrupled in the country.
He said, currently we are producing 4.70 crore tonnes of food including rice, wheat and corn across the country.
“Post-independence, our food production was 1.10 crore tonnes, which has increased four times today,” he made the statement while addressing as the chief guest the Deputy Commissioner (DC) conference held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday in the capital.
The Agriculture Minister said, “We have become self-sufficient in food. Our challenge now is to ensure nutritious food. The people of the country cannot eat nutritious food. But the production of everything has increased.”
He said that the country’s vegetable production was three million tonnes in 2007-2008, which increased by more than seven times to stand at 22 million tonnes.
“However, if people's income does not increase, people cannot accept them. That is why I am giving importance to agriculture, so that the income of farmers increases. In this case, I want the cooperation of the district administrators,’ he mentioned.
Agriculture is an important issue to develop the economy, the Agriculture Minister said, adding that agriculture will always have a contribution to ensure human food security.
“We came to power three times under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina. We promised the nation to reduce food prices by increasing food production. We are trying that now,” he mentioned.
The Agriculture Minister also said, “Agriculture will not only be done with cows and goats, agriculture should be science-based. Scientists should come forward to modernize agriculture. We are working, we are producing new seeds. We are producing a new paddy seed, from which 30 to 32 maunds of paddy per bigha can be produced.”
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said on the occasion, “We have stocked the highest food grains of 19.25 lakh tonnes. We still are collecting. We are giving OMS at one lakh tonnes per month.”
He also said there is no reason to be alarmed as there will be no famine in the country.
Majumdar said that now mustard has been cultivated all over the country. He expects this time we will get 30 percent of edible oil from mustard.