Matia for plan to check loss of arable land

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury yesterday stressed working out an effective plan to check the country's fast-shrinking arable land and thus maintain the momentum in its food grain production.

“Decrying the loss of agricultural land will help little… we'll have to find out a proper solution to deal with the problem,” she told a seminar organised by Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation at its Dhaka office.

The agriculture minister said the government alone could not put an end to unplanned construction of dwelling houses on arable land. “So, finding out a way on how more crops could be produced from a small land must be seriously taken into consideration.”

Speaking as the chief guest, Matia said NGOs needed to supplement the government efforts to develop the agricultural sector as the country's 16 percent GDP comes from agriculture.

Criticising the BNP's role in agriculture during its previous term, she said the farmers had to lay down their lives for fertiliser, diesel fuel and power.

She said the government had already distributed “agriculture cards” among the farmers and introduced special loans for them.

Matia said the government was providing various supports to the farmers to make them self-reliant as per its vision 2021.

Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Dr Mustafa K Mujeri addressed the programme with PKSF Chairman Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad in the chair.