"Either do your work properly or quit," the minister was quoted as saying at the Governing Body meeting of the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC) at its conference room here yesterday.

The ministry on an emergency basis released Tk 5 crore in December last year against a Tk 10 crore 'Action Plan' undertaken for the development of pulse, oil seeds and spices. But the project scientists told the meeting yesterday that they were not in a position to initiate the project in the current fiscal year due to seasonal variation.

Environment and Forest Minister Shahjahan Siraj and State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Ukil Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan also attended the meeting that coordinates works of 10 agriculture-related research institutes, including those for forestry, fisheries and livestock.

MK Anwar urged the agriculture scientists and extension workers to immediately take coordinated steps to reduce yield gap between research findings and actual field experiences.

He said, "Had we reduced the gap, the overall agriculture production would have increased by 10-15 per cent."

Three papers were presented in the meeting, reviewing the mandate, organisations and programmes of Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) and Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI).

Prepared by the scientists, experts and teachers of the relevant fields, the reports assessed the ongoing research activities and recommended some future research issues. They also recommended change in organograms and recruitment rules of the institutions.

Three separate committees have been formed to update the recommendations of the papers for implementation.

Shahjahan Siraj underscored the need for increasing dairy output to provide balanced nutrition for the people. He said efforts should be taken for poultry production that will not pollute the environment.

Sattar called for rearrangement of manpower in the research institutes to strengthen the activities.

MK Anwar underlined the importance of optimum utilisation of manpower in the agriculture sector. He asked the officials to give special emphasis on research rather than infrastructure development.

He said it is time to give special thrust on agriculture to maintain growth in the sector.