Staff Reporter :
Speakers at a seminar on Sunday urged for approving more allocation in the 2014-15 budget for the agricultural research and innovating of country’s own seeds. There should be more budget allocation for marketing the local agriculture products while the farmers should be involved in the national budget process.
The speakers also called for strengthening Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) to ensure the rights of farmers. The BADC should also be strengthened to ensure agricultural seed, they said.
Different organisations, COAST Trust, Oxfam and Bangladesh Krishok Federation, jointly arranged the seminar titled “Agriculture and Farmer Friendly Budget: Public-Private Sector in Seed Management” at the National Press Club in the city. Mustafa Kamal Akanda of COAST Trust moderated the programme while AKM Jahangir Hossain MP, Akram Hossain Chowdhury of Awami League, Shamsuzzaman Dudu of BNP, additional secretary of Agriculture Ministry Anwar Faruk, Dewan Siraj of BTV, Ziaul Huq Mukta of Oxfam-Asia and Aminur Rasul Babul of Unnayan Dhara Trust spoke at the function.
Mujibul Haque Munir of COAST Trust presented the keynote paper. In his keynote paper, he said, the agriculture sector depends on the seeds marketed by the multi-national corporations and local companies. The contribution of the BADC in providing seeds has been decreasing day by day. The institution should be capacitated more to get out of this situation, he said.
They speakers called the government to increase budget allocation in the agriculture sector in the interest of the farmers as well as the country. They said that a ‘Price Commission’ should be introduced to ensure proper price of products to farmers, which they are not getting.
Speakers at a seminar on Sunday urged for approving more allocation in the 2014-15 budget for the agricultural research and innovating of country’s own seeds. There should be more budget allocation for marketing the local agriculture products while the farmers should be involved in the national budget process.
The speakers also called for strengthening Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) to ensure the rights of farmers. The BADC should also be strengthened to ensure agricultural seed, they said.
Different organisations, COAST Trust, Oxfam and Bangladesh Krishok Federation, jointly arranged the seminar titled “Agriculture and Farmer Friendly Budget: Public-Private Sector in Seed Management” at the National Press Club in the city. Mustafa Kamal Akanda of COAST Trust moderated the programme while AKM Jahangir Hossain MP, Akram Hossain Chowdhury of Awami League, Shamsuzzaman Dudu of BNP, additional secretary of Agriculture Ministry Anwar Faruk, Dewan Siraj of BTV, Ziaul Huq Mukta of Oxfam-Asia and Aminur Rasul Babul of Unnayan Dhara Trust spoke at the function.
Mujibul Haque Munir of COAST Trust presented the keynote paper. In his keynote paper, he said, the agriculture sector depends on the seeds marketed by the multi-national corporations and local companies. The contribution of the BADC in providing seeds has been decreasing day by day. The institution should be capacitated more to get out of this situation, he said.
They speakers called the government to increase budget allocation in the agriculture sector in the interest of the farmers as well as the country. They said that a ‘Price Commission’ should be introduced to ensure proper price of products to farmers, which they are not getting.
