The New Nation - Internet Edition

BANGLADESH, according to agriculture experts, has enough scope to increase farm production for attaining self-sufficiency in rice and reducing imports of other foodgrains to shield the local market from global food price volatility. The country can easily become self-reliant in rice, potato and vegetables and earn near self-sufficiency in wheat, pulses and oil seeds if right now a number of steps are taken like bringing of fallow land under cultivation with increased crop intensity, reducing yield gap, higher investment in research and extension, popularisation of saline-and-flood-resistant varieties and slight change in crop pattern as suggested in a recent Agro-Economic Research publication on agricultural statistics.

For increasing agricultural production, integrated crop management package by designing agricultural zones based on weather and soil conditions can be taken up apart from ensuring proper supply of agriculture inputs. There are a total of 30 agro-ecological zones defined by experts and the Department of Agricultural Extension is currently preparing upazila-based development plans to increase farm production. Currently, almost 1.8 million hectares of land remain especially in southern and northeast areas. The total area used for Boro rice cultivation this year was 4.5 million. Rice covers almost 11 million hectares or about 80 per cent of the total cultivated area. Boro rice cultivation overlaps Rabi crops, namely pulses, oil seed and onion.

The Agro-Economic Research publication has projected net grain production to be 2.76 crore tonnes in 2010 against the requirement of 2.45 crore tonnes by that time. Bangladesh has long been a net food importing country. Recently, the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute called for increasing investment in agriculture, particularly in agricultural science-technology and market access, both at national and global levels. The government has to ensure food and nutrition of people and invest massive amounts in agriculture with a view to improving infrastructure and protecting the poor from spiralling food prices.