Staff Reporter :
The Bangladeshi government has announced plans for the country’s largest seed production farm project, aiming to strengthen food security, alleviate poverty, and improve living standards in the country’s southeastern region.
Located in Sonagazi Upazila of Feni district, the project will focus on producing high-yielding, disease-free, and top-quality seeds. This initiative is expected to unlock vast potential for agricultural growth in the region.
The project, spearheaded by the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) under the Ministry of Agriculture, received approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in September 2022. While initial groundwork has begun, the project’s full-scale launch hinges on land acquisition.
The Feni Deputy Commissioner, Moshammat Shahina Akhtar, submitted a request to the Ministry of Land in December 2023, seeking approval for the acquisition of 572.26 acres of land for the project.
With sources within the Ministry of Agriculture indicating an imminent start to the land acquisition process, the project appears to be nearing a critical milestone.
Beyond seed production, the project encompasses a broader vision for agricultural development.
Its objectives include, expanding crop diversification in the project area, strengthening BADC’s seed supply chain through modern technologies, producing drought, waterlogging, salinity-tolerant, and disease-resistant seeds, setting up demonstration plots for knowledge dissemination and building essential infrastructure to support the farm’s operations The farm is projected to generate a total of 2,427 metric tons of seeds over the project period, with an annual production capacity of at least 1,200 to 1,500 metric tons of diverse seed varieties.
This initiative holds immense promise for empowering coastal communities, enhancing food security, and fostering a more robust agricultural sector in Bangladesh.
Syed Sarwar Jahan, the director of the seed production project, said that the maximum utilization of land will be ensured in this project and the opportunity to expand the cultivable area will be created through the seeds produced here and this additional food grain will play a helpful role in ensuring the food security of the country.
The farm will further strengthen BADC’s seed supply chain in the view of SDGs. Apart from seed production, the farm will have a horticulture unit and create an agro-ecological diversity link with fisheries, dairy and poultry.
The objectives and activities of the project have been prepared with a view of achieving the objectives of the Vision Plan, 7th Five Year Plan (SYP), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), National Agricultural Policy (NAP) and National Seed Policy (NSP).
Meanwhile, the construction of an RCC link road of 5.8 km length and about 4 meters width has been completed under this project. Local Member of Parliament Lieut. General (Retd.) Masud Uddin Chowdhury and Member of Parliament for Feni Sadar Constituency Nizam Uddin Hazari inaugurated it.