Do not waste food

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged all not to waste food, saying that food was being wasted in many countries while many nations were suffering from food shortages.

“Don’t waste food,” she said while addressing a virtual address from her official Ganabhaban residence on Saturday, coinciding with the World Food Day stressing the need for finding ways to recycle surplus food to evade wastage.

The premier simultaneously called for continued research to boost food production in the country. She also put importance on the research that whether other needs can be met by the excess food.

Hoping that Bangladesh will never face any scarcity of food in future, she said that research on food production cannot be halted in any way as her government has been prioritizing it since assuming power.

“Research has to continue as the production capacity of newly invented seed may gradually decrease. That’s why research has to be kept going on. Everyone has to concentrate on it.”

She said the country’s scientists have achieved success in the research of inventing different varieties of drought, salinity, water-logging, severe winter or heat-tolerant paddies and this trend has to be continued.

“I think our agricultural scientists are the best scientists in the world and I expressed my gratitude to them.”

The prime minister said her government will build a hunger-and-poverty-free Bangladesh as dreamt by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, where all the fundamental rights of people such as safe food, nutrition, education, residence, etc, will be ensured.

“In fact, when Awami League was in power, North Bengal became “Monga” (famine) free and it will remain Monga free . . . . But, we have to make sure that none can bring famine in the country through conspiracy.”

She said that they will keep their work running to ensure food production and meet the nutritional demand of people, and urged all concerned to work in this connection.

She also reiterated her call to all to put attention to cultivation so that one inch of land does not remain unused.

She said many countries in the world faced scarcity of food during the Covid-19 pandemic but Bangladesh never wants to see it.

With Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque in the chair, Senior Secretary of the Ministry Md. Mesbahul Islam delivered the welcome speech.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister S M Rezaul Karim and Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder also spoke as special guests.

A documentary on agriculture and food production was screened at the event, organized by the Agriculture Ministry in the city’s InterContinental Hotel.

The World Food Day 2021 was observed in the country as elsewhere in the world with the theme “Our actions are our future- Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life”.

The premier said that in the last 13 years, the government has made huge progress in the agriculture sector by ensuring the use of digital technology in farming.

The government has made arrangements to exchange information with the farmers through Krishi Batayan, Krishak Bandhu Phone Service (3331), Krishaker Janala and Krishi Call Center (16123).

In addition, the government also provided agricultural input assistance cards to about 2.1 crore farmers, out of which 1.27 crore people are getting benefits by opening bank accounts at Tk 10, she revealed.

Mentioning that her government emphasized on agricultural product processing and value chain management, Sheikh Hasina said since 2009, 655 improved yielding and adverse environment tolerant varieties of crops and 591 technologies have been developed alongside arranging the crops according to the climate and soil suitability.

She said they have further increased allocation for agricultural education and research and as a result, agriculture scientists are rapidly moving towards the use of 4th Industrial Revolution technology in the agricultural sector.

She said in comparison to the statistics of 2009, the present statistics showed that by 2020 the production of rice has increased by 17 per cent, wheat by 21 per cent, maize by 640 per cent, potato by 98 per cent, pulses by 443 per cent, oilseeds by 75 per cent, vegetables by 534 per cent and onions by 248 per cent, which is unimaginable.

The prime minister said their efforts have made unprecedented progress in raising livestock such as cows, goats, ducks and chickens. “In the last 12 years, the production of animal protein, milk, meat and eggs has increased 5 times, 7 times and 4 times respectively.”

At present, she said, the country was able to produce surplus food.

She added that Bangladesh is now third in the world in rice production, third in vegetable production, fourth in tea production, seventh in mango and potato production and eighth in guava production.