A roadmap is being prepared to increase rice production in line with the demand.
Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque made the comment while speaking to reporters after a meeting at the Secretariat on Thursday on increasing cultivation of high-yielding inbred and super hybrid varieties to boost paddy production.
He said that the price of rice is increasing in the country during the ‘Aman’ production season. Record production has been made of Aus, Boro and Aman this year. Government stocks are also at an all-time high, yet rice prices are out of control.
In this situation, in order to keep the price of rice within the purchasing power of the people, it is necessary to increase production quickly.
The Agriculture Minister said, “In order to increase the production of rice, cultivation of very high yielding inbred and super hybrid varieties should be increased. A roadmap is being prepared for that purpose, so that production can be increased a lot in 1 to 2 years.”
He said that the country’s agricultural land is declining. Therefore, in order to increase the production of rice, the newly invented high productive varieties have to be taken to the field quickly and the cultivation of super hybrids has to be increased.
Paddy cultivation should be increased in adverse areas including hills, haors and coasts. A specific action plan is being taken to increase the production of paddy in the coming Boro, Aus and Aman seasons, he added.
Emphasizing on the need for accurate statistics of rice demand, the minister said that in order to make the right decision, the country needs to eliminate statistical inconsistencies in rice demand, production and productivity.
He urged the BBS and the Department of Agricultural Extension to prepare more reliable statistics in this regard.
Commenting on the government's inconvenience over rice production and demand figures, the agriculture minister said there was a big gap between the target and production figures even though each union had three agriculture officers.
Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Mohammad Saidul Islam, senior officials of the ministry, and leaders of agencies and representatives of private seed associations were present at the meeting among others.
