DHAKA, Oct 8, 2018 (BSS) – The government has approved the National Agriculture Police 2018 with a view to achieving sustainable food and nutrition security through efficient utilization of the natural resources, officials said.
They said the government first formulated the national agriculture policy in 1999 for making the crop production system profitable and then amended it in 2013 aiming to tackle other challenges including the adverse impact of climate change in farm sector.
The new agriculture policy has given emphasis on investment including quality seed production, fertilizer and irrigation management, bio-technology, farm mechanization, agriculture cooperative and marketing, women empowerment in agriculture, natural resource management, specialized agriculture, regional special agriculture, involvement of the youth force, agriculture rehabilitation, agriculture afforestation, safe and nutritious food production, use of information and communication technology, said the agriculture experts.
Terming the new agriculture policy as the guideline of farm sector, noted agriculturist Dr Wais Kabir said the new agriculture policy has addressed new issues and concerns for sustainable food production.
The newly approved policy has prioritized enhancement of productivity, coordination of different ministries and organizations with the agriculture ministry and use of knowledge and expertise both in private and public sectors, he added.
The agriculture policy has also given priority to coastal agriculture, haor and wet land, hill agriculture, Barind agriculture, char land agriculture.
Natural disaster and agriculture rehabilitation, flood, extreme temperature, cyclone, high and low tides, drought, thunderbolt, submergence and salinity have also been addressed by the policy for taking appropriate steps both from research and farmers level to avoid productivity loss under the situation.
It is a big challenge to keep the continuity of rising productivity of different crops and that’s why the new agriculture policy has given importance to reducing the yield gap of different crops between the research farms and the field level production of the crops, said Mohammad Mohsin, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
“We must introduce research in agriculture which includes biotechnology research, nanotechnology, microbiology research, farming system research and post harvest technology for making the crop production profitable under shrinking trend of cultivable land,” said the DAE chief.
The cabinet approved the policy on July 9, 2018 with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.