Sr. Staff Reporter, Rangpur :
Director General (DG) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Dr. Debasish Sarker stressed on making combined mini seed packets easily available at farmers’ doorsteps to increase diversified agricultural productions.
He said this as a team member while visiting farmers’ household-based year-round vegetables-fruit, compost/vermicompost, improved fodder and improved livestock production, bio-fortified rice Bangabandhu dhan100 under improved diversified cropping patterns at Kishoreganj and Sadarupazilas in Nilphamari district on Sunday.
The visit was arranged under the Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems (SI-MFS) project being implemented in Bangladesh aiming at using every inch of homesteads adopting resource-efficient and climate-smart innovations and technologies.
The SI-MFS project is a global initiative funded by the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) and its activities are going on in six countries, including Bangladesh. Country Representative of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Bangladesh and Country Focal Person of the project Dr. Humnath Bhandari led the 8-member team of IRRI Bangladesh, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), BARI and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT Bangladesh).
The team also included DG of BRRI Dr. Md. Shahjahan Kabir and Dr. MoheshGathala of CIMMYT Bangladesh and other experts of these and other organisations.
Specialist in Agricultural Research Md. Abu Abdullah Miajy at IRRI’s Rangpur Hub Office coordinated the field visit program.
Cropping System Agronomist from IRRI’s Bangladesh Office Dr. Sharif Ahmed and Senior Scientific Officer of BARI in Rangpur Dr. Zannatul Ferdous discussed the project activities in 15 villages of Nilphamari, Rangpur and Dinajpur districts.
Dr. Debasish Sarker said homestead-based year round vegetables-fruits production through the BARI model (Saidpur) will ensure family nutrition in the northern part of Bangladesh.
“BARI and IRRI have launched small sized homestead based combined mini seed packets under the SI-MFS project for year round homestead based vegetables production and marketing with reasonable price locally.” He highly praised the SI-MFS activities for increasing agricultural systems’ production to make agriculture profitable for farmers and improve their livelihoods and family nutrition.
Dr. Humnath Bhandari stressed on enhancing farmers’ household incomes and nutritional food security through ensuring diversified agricultural productions.
“The SI-MFS project is being implemented in northern and southern parts of Bangladesh from 2022 aiming at using every inch of homesteads adopting resource-efficient and climate-smart innovations and technologies,” he said.
DG of BRRI Dr. Md. Shahjahan Kabir said short duration high yield rice varieties have been introduced in the Aman season enabling farmers to harvest those earlier and cultivate Rabi crops on the same land before Boro rice farming to enhance rice and agricultural system productions under changed climatic conditions.