Editorial
Building food buffer stock a top priority
Boosting productivity is part of the strategy
THE issue of food security is high on the government's agenda, particularly because of food production crunch, both domestically and internationally.
The government's attempt to deal with the situation on an emergency basis through importing rice from India appeared to be stuck somewhere in the negotiation process in the last one month. However, the latest news is that four lakh tonnes of rice will finally be imported, but the shipment of the lot will take at least two months. Even though the forthcoming boro harvest is predicted to be a bumper one; yet for building adequate food security we will have to import rice, too.
The Chief Adviser has called for restructuring the country's agriculture system to increase productivity. Though this is a long-term solution, there is no doubt that our only option is to boost agricultural production to meet domestic requirements in an unpredictable international food grains scenario. The country can ill-afford to depend on imported food grains.
However, the issue of restructuring or modernising our agricultural production system has to be handled with a lot more efficiency than it has been so far. Our agricultural scientists at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute are doing a commendable job. They have already developed 281 varieties of high-yielding crops and 293 production-friendly technologies. But the problem at the production level is that the farmers are not yet in a position to make the best use of the land through proper use of agricultural inputs including irrigation and fertiliser. For instance, the use of fertlisers is not scientific enough to retain soil fertility and maximise production. Similarly, indiscriminate use of pesticides is a hazardous proposition. The experts believe that agricultural production can be increased substantially through scientific farming.
Needless to say, shortage of arable land and the pressure of the huge population will have to be countered with innovative and scientific methods of production, which can reduce the negative impacts of natural calamities to a great extent.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments