Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday reiterated her call to scientists  to put extra efforts on research to attain excellence in agricultural production. “I always think that without research it is not possible to attain excellence. As we are agriculture dependent country, we have given extra importance on agriculture,” she said. The prime minister was speaking at a programme to mark the 50th founding anniversary of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and inauguration of the ‘Bangabandhu Pierre Trudeau Agricultural Research Center’. She, however, said that the government has given importance on the research work on other sectors too. “Besides we have given emphasis on research works on health, education and science,” she said. Laying emphasis on continuous research on boosting food production, the PM said that Bangladesh frequently faces adverse circumstances due to geographical location and impact of climate changes. “So we have to produce our crops,” she said. Briefly describing various initiatives of the government for agricultural research, she said that Bangladesh not only sets example in food grains production, but also in all vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products. In this regard, she said that the production has to be continued with new varieties of crops in tune with the climate changes and environment. Hasina said that the country is about to enter the fourth industrial revolution and so the government has taken steps to create skilled manpower. She put emphasis on learning and producing bio-informatics, nano-technology, machine learning, internet of things and new agriculture technologies. Liberation War Affairs Minister A K M Mozammel Huq and State Minister for Youth and Sports Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel were also present at the event. Read more: Economic dev not possible without agriculture: Food Minister Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Agriculture Secretary Wahida Akter, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Director General Jean Balié, Executive Chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Dr. Sheikh Mohammad Bakhtiar, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer at Global Institute for Food Security, Steven Webb and BIRRI director general Dr M Shahjahan Kabir also spoke. A documentary titled "50 years of BRRI's pride and success" was screened at the function.    On arrival at the BRRI, the prime minister paid homage at the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Earlier, the PM inaugurated the ‘Bangabandhu Pierre Trudeau Agricultural Research Center’ aiming to conduct research in the field of agriculture for ensuring food security system tolerant of global climate change. The centre is expected to increase the existing commercial, research activities, technology exchange, development assistance between Bangladesh and Canada. This is the first time such a research centre set up with the direct support and funding of the government of Canada. The technology centre has been set up at BRRI following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Global Institute for Food Security at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council aiming to cooperate on multidisciplinary research, training and development partnership to ensure sustainable food security. PM Hasina also released balloons and pigeons marking the golden jubilee of BRRI's pride and success. She also took part in different programmes including tree plantations, inspection of BRRI laboratories, its various innovations and a cultural event titled “Dhan-Kabbya”. She unveiled the cover of five research publications of BRRI and BARC. The PM said that the government will provide food assistance to at least one crore people during holy Ramadan. “We have taken that decision.  Our goal is to ensure that the people of our country never suffer from food shortages,” she said. She also mentioned that the government is giving 30 kg of rice free of cost to the poor people in the country.   Read more: Govt’s focus on agriculture to tap its full potential: PM Hasina “This is being mixed with nutritional rice so that they do not get nutrition deficiency", she added. Hasina said that the government provided cash assistance to different sectors during Corona pandemic. She also mentioned that when global inflation went up  after Ukraine-Russia war, sanctions and counter-sanctions, the government distributed TCB cards to provide rice to one crore people at just Tk 30 per kg to ensure food security for the people of our country.   “Moreover, for the poorer section we have made this arrangement for about 50 lakh people who can buy rice for only Tk 15 per kg," she said. She called for involvement of students in agricultural work from school life.  “I think from school life they need to be involved. Working in the field, growing crops is a matter of great pride, not shame.  So that's how we should build the people of our country," she said. Commenting on the change in the mentality of the educated youth about agriculture, Hasina said, “Many boys and girls do not want to go to the farms after finishing their study. Even if their fathers are farmers, they feel ashamed to say that their fathers are farmers. But today that shame is no longer, we have removed that shame.” She said that there is no shame in doing what helps a person eat and live. “It is the matter of pride to do that, So it was absolutely necessary to change that mindset, I believe that we have been able to change mindset to some extent,” she said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday urged the country’s youths to work towards enhancing agricultural production and improve livelihoods of people living in villages through cooperatives. “Cooperatives are absolutely essential for our agricultural production, life and livelihood. Cooperatives create enormous scope for a densely populated country like ours,” she said. The premier was addressing a function, arranged to mark the 51st National Cooperative Day-2022 and give away the National Cooperative Award-2021 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) -- joining it through a virtual platform from her official residence Ganabhaban. Sheikh Hasina stressed the need for giving utmost importance to cooperatives for the development of the country. “If the youths come forward and get engaged in cooperatives -- uniting all in villages, we’ll be able to advance,” she said. The PM said her government has been working for the people and wants to create scopes so that every individual can improve their life and livelihood. Also read: Mega projects won’t affect the economy: PM She said her government opened every sector for private entrepreneurs so that employment is generated. Talking about inflation, Sheikh Hasina said prices of commodities have soared throughout the world due to the Russia-Ukraine war and Covid-19 pandemic, which affected Bangladesh as well. Now almost all countries are suffering from high inflation. “Every country has to use its reserves (of foreign currencies). We too are doing that for the wellbeing of the common people of the country,” she said. She said Bangladesh needs to purchase fertiliser, fuel and edible oil at very high prices amid high transportation costs for the sake of people and agricultural production. The Prime Minister emphasised on increasing production and savings to offset the impact of the current global crisis. Also read: PM urges high alert to foil plot against Padma Bridge opening She said the cooperative societies have been playing their roles effectively in Bangladesh. “I believe that Bangladesh can achieve economic self-sufficiency through cooperative movement,” she said. She said the current progress of Bangladesh should not face interruptions. Though the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the following sanctions slowed down the progress to some extent, the government's goal is to move forward overcoming this situation and develop the 'Golden Bengal' as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, she added. Sheikh Hasina said her government’s goal is to ensure civic facilities, and an improved lifestyle for rural people. In this context, she referred to several schemes, including ‘My House My Farm’ (Amar Bari Amar Khamar) and ‘My Village My Town’ (Amar Gram Amar Shohor), which were initiated by her government for the development of rural people. “We want to transform every village into a town,” said the Prime Minister. She stressed the need for construction of modern housing through cooperative societies that will be affordable for villagers as well as protect arable land by stopping indiscriminate construction of homes everywhere. The government has also started a project titled ‘Palli Janapad’ to construct planned, modern houses for rural people, she said. The PM said her government initiated the ‘My House My Farm’ scheme and micro-saving project under the scheme so that the poor don’t need to bear the "burden of micro-credit". With the theme of “Philosophy of Bangabandhu is Development through Cooperatives,” the day is being observed in the country this year. On behalf of the premier, LGRD and Cooperative Minister Tazul Islam handed over the National Cooperative Award-2021 to nine cooperative societies and a person under 10 categories for their contributions to the sector. Each awardee was conferred with a gold medal and a certificate. State Minister for LGRD and Cooperative Swapan Bhattacharjee presided over the function, while Rural Development and Cooperative Secretary Mashiur Rahman and Director General of Cooperatives Department Dr Tarun Kanti Sikder spoke on the occasion. Now there are currently around 193,000 cooperatives with more than 12,000,000 members.

A meeting on agriculture production and stock was held at the Ganobhaban on Thursday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday announced a new stimulus package of Tk 5,000 crore to provide financial assistance to small and medium farmers in rural areas for boosting agricultural production facing the fallout of Covid-19.

Mentioning that the current government has been able to resolve the country’s food crisis, Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Thursday said climate change has turned out to be a major concern challenging every country in the world.