Minister of Agriculture and Awami League presidium member Dr Md Abdur Razzaque said, BNP will not be able to bring down the Awami League government by agitation. If you want to bring down the government, you have to do it through elections. The people of the country own the power. If the people do not vote for us, we will leave power. But the BNP will not be able to bring down the current government by its agitation and will never be able to come to power.
The minister said these things at a seminar on 'Year-round nutritious and high-value fruit production' at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium in the capital's Khamarbari on Saturday morning. Bangladesh Academy of Agriculture (BAG), Directorate of Agricultural Extension and Agricultural Research Foundation organized the seminar.
Pointing out that inflation was always high during BNP's tenure, the minister said that the current government is agriculture-friendly and there has been no monsoon in the country in the last 13 years. This government has removed manga from the country forever. However, food inflation is opposed if it rises a bit. When we came to power in 2009, inflation was over 12%. We have kept inflation below 6% for the last 13 consecutive years. Inflation has exceeded 7% recently due to global crisis including Corona situation, Russia-Ukraine war. However, the rate of inflation in many developed countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, is higher than that of Bangladesh.
The Minister of Agriculture said that due to the Russia-Ukraine war, there has been an adverse reaction in the world economy. Food security is very important right now. There is a food crisis all over the world, people are coping with it. In this regard, Bangladesh is in a better position than other countries.
Dr. regarding fertilizer. Abdur Razzak said, even if we don't get gas, there will be no shortage of fertilizers in the country. I have spoken with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina about the fertilizer issue. If gas is not available, it will be imported from the international market and supplied to the farmers. The Prime Minister has given clear instructions to ensure that there is no shortage of fertilizers in the country even if the price of fertilizers is high there (in the international market).
BAG President and Emeritus Scientist Kazi M. BARC's executive chairman Sheikh Md. Bakhtiar, Director General of Agriculture Extension Department Benazir Alam, Director General of Agricultural Research Institute Debashish Sarkar, Executive Director of Agricultural Research Foundation Nathuram Sarkar, Bagh General Secretary MA Majid and others spoke.
Mehdi Masud, director of the year-round fruit development project, and Abdur Rahim, professor of Bangladesh Agricultural University, presented separate papers on nutritious and high-value fruits. The article highlights the potential of growing nutritious and high value fruits in Bangladesh. There is great scope for cultivation of various high value fruits including strawberry, dragon fruit, cashew nut, rambutan, longan, coffee, rockmelon, mango, litchi, malta and cultivation is very profitable. It is said that it is possible to make a net profit of 3 lakh 40 thousand in mango cultivation, 4 lakh 63 thousand in litchi, 5 lakh 26 thousand in dragon, 6 lakh 68 thousand in malta cultivation in 1 hectare of land.
200 varieties of 80 kinds of fruits are cultivated in the country. There has been a great success in the production of fruits, and at the same time the volume of imports has increased. About 60% of demand is imported, costing $30 billion a year, the article says.
On the other hand, 60% of the annual fruit production in the country is produced during May-August. That is why emphasis is placed on year-round fruit production.