Agri-Minister warns of compromising seed quality

Staff Reporter :
Agriculture Minister Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque on Saturday warned that the government would not compromise on seed quality as it was the main material of agricultural production.
” Seed, is the main element of agricultural production. In such, quality seed is highly important for good harvesting. Therefore, no compromise will be made on seed quality,’ the Agri-Minister said.
Dr. Abdur Razzaque made the remark while addressing the inaugural session of the three-day ‘Bangladesh Seed Congress-2023’ at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka as Chief Guest.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Bangladesh Seed
Association were jointly organising the congress.
Dr. Abdur Razzaque urged the public and private institutions to work together for building cent per cent confidence among farmers about using seeds.
The Minister asked Bangladesh Seed Association to play a responsible role to shun buying low-quality seeds. He called it in gaining cent per cent confidence of farmers in purchasing quality-seeds.
The Minister directed the agriculture department’s officials to strictly monitor to ensure quality seeds in markets.
He said that the officials should work with sincerity and dedication to this end.
Dr. Abdur Razzaque said that private seed companies were playing an important role in agricultural production and the government would provide all necessary supports to the seed association.
Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Wahida Akhter attended the seed congress as Special Guest while International Rice Research Institute Director General Jean Balié, FAO representative in Bangladesh Robert D Simpson, Asia and Pacific Seed Association president Manish Patel and Secretary General of the International Seed Federation Michael Keller also spoke on the event, among others, as guests of honour.
President of Bangladesh Seed Association M Anis Ud Dowla presided over the programme while its General Secretary Humayun Kabir gave welcome speech in the event.