The New Nation - Internet Edition

4 farm rehabilitation projects taken in Sidr-hit areas

BSS, Dhaka

An agriculture rehabilitation project was inaugurated at four villages in Barguna district under a post-Sidr Agriculture Rehabilitation Programme.

The project was arranged by Bangladesh Samaj-tantrik Dal (BSD) with financial assistance of Habibunnesa Chowdhury, Alhaj Tara Mia and Jyotsna Begum Chowdhury of Rajnagar thana in Moulvibazar district was initiated to agriculture equipments to the farmers in the Sidr affected areas, said a press release.

Under this project, one power tiller, one power pump, one crushing machine and two spray machines would be provided in each of the villages.

The projects was inaugurated at Khejurtoli and west Dhupsi thanas on January 24, at Fuljhuri and Gulbonia upazilas on January 25 this year.

Donors Habibunnesa Chowdhury and Alhaj Tara Mia were present during the inauguration of the projects.

BSD central leaders Bazlur Rashid Feroze, Rajekuzzaman Ratan, party leaders Rumon, Ferdous, Jewel, Shaheen, Masud and Rashed, among others, were present.

Poor farmers of these villages would be able to use these equipments and would be able to plough and irrigate lands and spray insecticides and crash paddy at cheap costs.

A study shows that the projects would help reduce cultivation cost by Taka 5,000 per acre every year by using these equipments. Over 500 farmers of the four villages would get the benefit from these projects.

Govt distributes 4.69 lakh blankets among cold hit people

BSS, Dhaka

The government has distributed 4.69 lakh pieces of blankets and taka 6.48 crore till Sunday among cold stricken people in the country particularly in Sidre affected area.

Besides, various non-government organizations have distributed 1.54 crore pieces of blankets among the cold stricken people in Sidre area, said a government handout on Sunday night.

Of the total, the Department of Relief and Rehabilitation provided 4.10 lakh pieces blankets and taka 1.28 crore, while Chief Adviser's office provided 57,500 pieces blankets and taka 5.20 crore through deputy commissioners of the district concerned.

The Department of Relief and Rehabilitation has been distributing blankets among the cold affected people since November 14, 2007.

Meanwhile, 38 thousand 889 pieces of blankets were distributed among the people of 32 districts including 16 in North Bengal.

The blankets were sent by the Embassy of Brazil in India through the Banapole Land Port on January 13 and 14.

Last year, a total of 1.93 crore pieces of blankets were distributed during the winter season among the cold affected people.

The programme for distributing cloths among cold stricken people is going on full swing and the government has sufficient funds to buy warm cloths, the handout said.

Govt. to act for Bangladeshi workers in S Arabia: Iftekhar

BSS, Dhaka

Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment has been asked to submit a detailed report on the condition of Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia.

The government will take necessary steps after receiving the report from Bangladesh mission in Riyadh, said a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.

Adviser for Foreign Affairs Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury who is also in charge of the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment asked the secretary for the report when his attention was drawn to a news item published in today's issue of the daily Ittefaq headlined, "Disaster in export of manpower to Saudi Arabia feared."

Lecture on Kibria at National Museum today

BSS, Dhaka

A commemorative lecture on former Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria will be delivered at the Poet Sufia Kamal auditorium of National Museum at Shahbagh in the city at 4 pm today.

Former Finance Minister AMA Muhit will deliver the lecture titled "Bangladesh's Foreign Policy and SAMS Kibria" on the occasion of the third death anniversary of the slain leader.

Organised by Bangladesh Foundation for Development Research, the function will be presided over by its Chairman National Professor Kabir Chowdhury, said a press release.

'Prices of essentials show downward trend in BDR-run markets'

BSS, Dhaka

Prices of essential items were cheaper on Saturday in the BDR-run sales centres and markets compared to those in the city's ordinary markets, according to a BDR market report released here on Sunday.

The BDR market report said, the winter vegetables are being sold at reasonable prices.

Flour in packet is being sold at between Taka 41 and 43 per kg in the ordinary markets, it said adding, the item was sold at Taka 42 per kg in the BDR-run open markets and Taka 34 in the BDR-run sales centers. The per kg price of the item in Kolkata is equivalent to Taka 24.13.

Coarse rice was sold in different markets at between Taka 28 and 29 per kg, while the price of the same item in the BDR-run sales centers Taka 25. In Kolkata markets, it is being sold at equivalent to Taka 22.41

Onion was sold at Taka 16 per kg in the BDR-run open markets and at Taka 15 in the BDR-run sales centre. Price of onion in other city markets were between Taka 15 and Taka 18. The item is being sold in Kolkata at Taka 8.62.

Potato is being sold from Taka 12 to Taka 16 per kg in the ordinary markets, while its price in the BDR-run open markets is Taka 14. In Kolkata, price of the item is Taka 10.34.

The price of soybean oil ranges between Taka 95 and Taka 100 per liter in the ordinary markets, while it is available at Taka 94 in the BDR-run open markets and Taka 88 in the BDR-run sales centers. In Kolkata, price of the soybean oil is Taka 100 per liter.

Palm oil is being sold at between Taka 85 and Taka 90 per liter in the ordinary markets while it is available at Taka 85 per liter in the BDR-run open markets. In Kolkata, price of the palm oil is Taka 77.58 per liter, the BRD market report said.

The price of hilsha fish ranges between Taka 240 and Taka 260 per kg in different markets of the city, the report said.

USA-China Industry to invest $ 2.5 m in Ctg EPZ

BSS, Dhaka

Messrs. World Ye Dress Pants Limited, a US-Chinese company in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone, is to expand its garments accessories unit with more investment and creation of new jobs for the Bangladeshis.

The 100% foreign owned company will enhance their production capacity with additional investment of $2.5 million, totaling the amount to $5 million, a press release of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) said here on Sunday.

At present, 998 Bangladeshis are working in this factory and the job opportunities for an additional 500 are expected to be created after implementation of the expansion programme, the press release said.

A lease agreement to this effect was signed between the BEPZA and the company recently. BEPZA Executive Chairman Brigadier General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, among others, was present on the occasion.

Tk 5 lakh donated to AMCH

BSS, Dhaka

Ms. Rehana Begum, a Bangladeshi expatriate living in the United Kingdom, on Sunday donated Taka 500,000 to the Ahsania Mission Cancer Hospital AMCH fund.

She handed over a cheque for the amount to the mission's president Kazi Rafiqul Alam for the hospital now under construction in the city's Uttara Model Town.

The hospital authorities will set will up a bed after the name of Rehana's father Md. Arshad Ali for this humanitarian donation, a mission's press release said.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission has urged all benevolent persons to come forward with their generous supports for timely completion of the construction of this hospital, where the poor and hapless people will get modern treatment facilities.

Construction of the hospital up to its 10th floor has already been completed, the press release said.

900 children die of malnutrition everyday

BSS, Dhaka

Around 900 children die of malnutrition in Bangladesh everyday mainly due to a poor dietary intake in the earliest months of their life, said an expert at a dissemination seminar here yesterday.

Eminent child specialist Professor Dr M. Qudrat-e-Khuda Talukder also said that the consequences of insufficient nourishment continue into adulthood and are passed on to the next generations giving rise to a wide array of effects including Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR).

Prof. Dr MQK Talukder made the disclosure at the seminar on "The Lancet's Series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition" organised by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR'B) at its Sasakawa auditorium.

Dr. Talukder called for revitalizing the nutrition programme in Bangladesh through mobilizing required resources and making the best use of expertise in the health sector to reduce the child mortality and improving the child health in the country.

Director General of the Department of Health Professor Dr Md. Abul Faiz was the chief guest while Editor of Prothom Alo Matiur Rahman and Executive Director of National Nutrition Programme Biman Kumar Saha were the special guests on the occasion.

The seminar was attended by health scientists, physicians, NGO officials and donor representatives, who also took part in the open discussion on health issues.

Dr Abul Faiz referred to the government's relevant health programmes in reducing maternal and child mortality and said efforts should be further geared up to improve the mother and child health in the greater national interest.

Matiur Rahman called for increased media coverage to the health issues taking into active consideration their importance in the country's socio-economic perspective.

Professor Robert E Black of the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Dr Tahmeed Ahmed of ICDDR'B presented two keynote papers with emphasis on long-term educational and economic effects side by side with establishing evidence-based institutions to drastically reduce the consequences of malnutrition.

According to The Lancet, a world famous medical science magazine, more than 3.5 million mothers and uner-5 children die unnecessarily each year globally due to the underlying cause of undernutrition.

Besides, it said, millions more are permanently disabled by the physical and mental effects because of poor diet, putting them into the state of irreversible physical and cognitive damage.

Dr Robert E. Black said 90 per cent of all malnourished children live in 36 developing countries including Bangladesh. "Over a third of the child's deaths and 11 percent of the global disease burdens are resulted from maternal and child malnutrition," he said.

Dr Tahmid Ahmed said maternal and child nutrition interventions could prevent a quarter of child deaths in poor communities. "Bangladesh ranks the 4th position in the list of children suffering from malnutrition," he said.

According to the keynote presenters, at least 13 million children are born annually with IUGR, 112 millions are underweight and 178 million under-5 children suffer from stunning.

"The high mortality and disease burden resulting from these nutrition-related factors make a compelling case for the urgent implementation of interventions to reduce or ameliorate their consequences," they said.

Gates Foundation provides $ 5.2 m to CARE Bangladesh

BSS, Dhaka

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a grant of 5.2 million US dollar to CARE Bangladesh for strengthening the dairy value chain to increase the productivity of small dairy farmers and link them to the formal dairy market.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the foundation, announced the funds for the over four years "Strengthening Daily Value Chain (SDVC) Project" as part of a package of agricultural development grants at a press conference at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland on January 25, said a press release here yesterday.

Dr Helene D. Gayle, President and CEO of CARE International, Amos Namanga Ngongi, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA,) and Robert B. Zoellick, President of World Bank, among others, were present.

CARE will use the grant to provide landless and smallholder farmers with the opportunity to enhance their participation in and profit from the dairy value chain in Bangladesh, where 80 percent of the population of 147 million people lives in rural areas and cattle area an inseparable part of the farming system.

Milk production remains primarily in the hands of the rural poor-with households averaging two to three cows-who produce more than 90 percent of the milk in the country. Their manner of production, transportation and transaction remains informal and inadequate.

"This generous grant will allow us, initially, to improve the lives of 35,000 families who earn their living from dairy farming. But ultimately, this project has the capacity to benefit two million households," said Helene Gayle.

"Through working with private and public sector partners, we will create best-practice models that address the major obstacles for small- scale dairy farmers and demonstrate environmentally-friendly practices."

The project includes establishing 21 chilling plants and house-to-house milk collection systems around which farmers will organise, improving the transportation system linking chilling plants with processing facilities and training and hiring para- veterinarians.