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Agri success colossal

Time to harness the full potential of food processing industry


Bangladeshpost
Published : 19 Sep 2020 08:04 PM | Updated : 20 Sep 2020 12:20 AM

It needs no emphasising that our agriculture has witnessed a revolution in the last decade. We have seen substantial growth in agro-production, invented high yielding variety of crops, and consequently all the sub-sectors including fisheries, animal husbandry and processed agro-food have registered a remarkable growth that indicates a sustainable food system.

With the rapid ballooning of population, Bangladesh has been successful in giving a boost to its agricultural growth and equipping its agricultural sector with new technologies. As a result, country’s earning from the exports of agricultural products saw a whopping growth in the last couple of years. 

Of late, Bangladesh has achieved self-sufficiency in food production. Being self-reliant in food production is indeed a great achievement for a country of 17 million people where more than 1252 people live in per square kilometre. We have tripled our rice production over the last few decades and the government’s scheme of rural electrification has had played a significant role in boosting the production of the country’s agro produces. 

However, in order to make this production growth sustainable, we should integrate efficient technologies, conduct agricultural research, diversify agricultural production and improve market linkages for small and marginal farmers. We need to invest a lot in research and development of new technologies, and the public and private sector should work in unison in this regard.


It is high time for the authorities concerned to focus

 on the food processing sector and build necessary

 infrastructures to get the most from the sector.



We are gradually moving towards commercialisation of our agriculture sector, but we do not have proper infrastructure in place for facilitating this transition. We have no transportation facility dedicated to this sector. Now what is needed is to ensure improved rural infrastructure so that farmers are able to reap the full benefit of their produces. Improved rural roads will make the movement of the produce easier from the farm to the market. 

The government has taken significant initiatives to boost the country’s agro- economy and bring efficiency in the firm sector by enhancing export of processed agro-food. There is high demand for processed food products in different countries of the world. Even in China and Japan, the demand is increasing rapidly. But it is a discomfiture discomforting to note that we do not have adequate infrastructure facility to process our agro-produce. Hence, the food processing industry has not been able to harness its full potential. Therefore, it is high time for the authorities concerned to focus on the food processing sector and build necessary infrastructures to get the most from the sector.