Make farming profitable for farmers

Bangladesh Rice Foundation (BRF) Chairman M Syeduzzaman speaks at a press conference at the National Press Club in the city yesterday. On his right is Ziaul Karim and on his left are Sadiqul Islam Bhuiyan and Mazharul Haq. PHOTO: STAR

Presenting the proposed National Rice Policy at a press conference at the National Press Club in the city yesterday, Bangladesh Rice Foundation (BRF) Chairman M Syeduzzaman also called for regulating the use of land in the country to protect the fast depleting farmland.

Syeduzzaman, also a former finance minister, said the BRF-prepared National Rice Policy had been forwarded to the ministries of finance, agriculture and food and disaster management, recommending policy interventions to keep farm production economically viable.

Official statistics show that the country is losing farmland at an alarmingly high rate of 80,000 hectares a year from a total of 14 million hectares. "As it (land) is a scarce and critical national resource, the use and management of rice land should be regulated through a combination of legal administrative measures and incentives keeping in view the greater national interests," says the proposed National Rice Policy.

It said, "Non-agricultural or less productive land should be earmarked in each mouza or village for building cluster houses, village markets, rural industries, brickfields and other non-agricultural purposes. Essential development projects should be allotted space only on non-agricultural or low productive land."

M Syeduzzaman, who was accompanied by other BRF Trustees including Prof Moazzem Hossain, Mazharul Haq, Sadiqul Islam Bhuiyan and Prof Zeba Islam Seraj, expressed shock at very low level of public sector investment in agricultural research.

Farm research expenditure declined to less than 0.2 percent of the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) in 2002-05 from about 0.3 percent in 1999-2002, the BRF report mentioned.

The BRF Chairman recommended allocating more resources to rice research. He emphasised that the farm subsidy benefits reach the farmers and efficiency be increased in applications of irrigation water, fertiliser and pesticides.

BRF recommended domestic production of farm machinery, better farm management practices, strengthening of research-extension links and changes in dietary habit lessening the pressure on rice.

Per capita annual rice consumption is surprisingly high in Bangladesh that stands at 164 kg whereas it is 148 kg in Indonesia, 103 kg in Thailand, 91 kg in Sri Lanka and only 73 kg in Malaysia, shows BRF statistics.