Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Sunday urged the people of the country to change their food habit gradually and eat other nutritious food and fruits reducing rice intake. "Per-capita rice consumption in Bangladesh is 400 grams daily which is the highest in the world, in many countries people’s average rice consumption is only 200 grams daily, " he said. Read: Agro revolution to be seen in saline areas: Dr Razzaque The minister came up with the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a function titled ‘Bangladesh's 50 years: Achievements and Diversifications in agriculture’. Bangladesh Agriculture Journalist Forum (BAJF) and Bangla Daily Bonik Barta jointly organised the program at a city hotel marking 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence. Dr Md Shajahan Kabir, DG of Bangladesh Rice Research Institution (BRRI), presented the keynote paper on ‘Rice based agriculture transformation in Bangladesh: research and policy nexus.’ He mentioned in the presentation that so far around 137 varieties of rice have been developed by BRRI which helped to the country become self-reliant in food production. He also said one taka investment in agriculture research brings 51 times higher return. Read: Dr Razzaque urges large companies to invest in agro-processing sector FAO representative in Bangladesh Robert D. Simpson, USAID mission director Kathryn David Steven also spoke at the function as special guests. President of BAJF Iftekhar Mahmud presided over the function while Editor of Bonik Barta Dewan Hanif Mahmud moderated it.

Bangladesh will host the  36th Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC) of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), for the first time since joining the organization  in 1973.

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Sunday said that the government will review the overall situation, including the flood’s impact on aush and aman paddy, before deciding to import rice.

Cyclone ‘Amphan’ left a trail of devastation when it hit Bangladesh’s coastal districts with wind speed of up to 180kph and over 10 feet tidal surges on Wednesday night.

The government will extend all-out support to growers and traders in selling and marketing easily all the seasonal fruits like mango, litchi, watermelon, jackfruit at this time of coronavirus pandemic, said Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Saturday.   The minister said this while speaking at an online views-exchange meeting on sales and marketing of seasonal fruits and agriculture products.   The participants at the meeting, including a former minister, incumbent junior ministers and experts, put forward a number of suggestions for saving the fruit growers as well as ensuring the smooth marketing of seasonal fruits.   The Agriculture Minister said coronavirus pandemic has adversely affected the transportation of agricultural produce, including seasonal fruits.   The growers are now unable to sell their produces as wholesale traders have lost interest in buying those while transport costs have doubled by the time, Abdur Razzaque said.   Marketing of farm produces have become a big challenge at this time of unprecedented scale of pandemic, he said adding that the government is working on it.   Attending the online meeting, former Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury said it is necessary to ease the movement of trucks on roads.   If seasonal fruits can be purchased from farmers and provided to police and army barracks, hospitals, prisons, and government offices, then the mango-marketing crisis could be resolved easily, Matia said.  

Farmers have harvested 99 percent of Boro paddy in the haor areas and 39 percent across the country, said Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque.

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday said farmers have harvested 90 percent of Boro paddy in haor areas and 25 percent across the country.   “The rest 10 percent Boro paddy in haor areas will be harvested within a week. Besides, the harvesting of paddy in the haor areas is being delayed due to the cultivation of BRRI-29 variety paddy,” he said while exchanging views with reporters online over the progress of the harvesting paddy across the country.   He hoped that the Boro paddy will be harvested within the month of June.   Some 4,45,399 hectares of land in the haor areas (Kishoreganj, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sylhet, Brahmanbaria) have been brought under boro cultivation and of those,  paddy from  90.02 percent of the land was harvested until Monday, he said.

The government is going to expand the procurement of paddy through a digital app to 64 upazilas across country during the upcoming Boro season, said Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Wednesday.

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.

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Monday said Bangladesh moved towards development due its good position in democracy, and election and multiparty system.