The statement of the six members of the European Parliament is similar to BNP's statement, said Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Wednesday.
“It's like a statement from the EU branch of the BNP,” he said while addressing a national seminar on nutrition development and poverty reduction through mushroom cultivation at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium at Farmgate in the capital on Wednesday.
Noting that religious and ethnic minority people are most secure during the Awami League regime, the minister said the statement of six members of the EU Parliament is baseless and unwarranted.
"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we have brought down the poverty rate from 40 percent to 18 percent and the extreme poverty rate from 18 percent to 6 percent. If mushroom cultivation can be spread on a large scale, there will be no poverty in the country. Moreover, in the next 3-5 years, we will be able to export mushrooms abroad,” the minister told the seminar.
Also read: Letter from 6 members of European Parliament reflects views of signatories, Ambassador tells UNB
The minister directed the agriculture officers of every upazila of the country to work on to create 200-300 mushroom entrepreneurs.