Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzak said the country needs to increase food production to cope with food crisis if any caused by coronavirus pandemic.
The unprecedented success of food production in the country and the high growth of production should not be stopped, he opined.
The minister made the remarks at an online meeting on Monday morning from his residence.
Abdur Razzak said the target for increasing the cultivation and production of Aush and Aman has been increased. In the meantime, farmers have also been given seeds and fertilizers to cultivate Aush, he added.
The agriculture minister said that in the meantime, various international organizations, including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program, and the International Food Policy Research Institute have expressed fears that the coronavirus pandemic could disrupt global food production. This can lead to a food crisis or famine in some countries. Taking this issue very seriously, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed concerned ministries to cultivate crops in every inch of arable land.
It was informed during the meeting that the ministry expects Aman to be cultivated in about 59 lakh hectares of land in the 2020-21FY and the production target is 1 crore 54 lakh tons of rice. In order to increase the production of Aman, the cultivation of low yielding varieties will be reduced and the cultivation of hybrid varieties will be increased.
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