Agriculturists yesterday called for stronger collaboration among the South Asian countries for exchange of the best vegetable varieties and findings of the agricultural researches to increase productivity for meeting increasing demand of nutrition.
They stated that average consumption of vegetables per capita is only 36 grammes a day, while modest requirement is 220 grammes.
They also said scientists in their own countries are conducting researches but those are not being shared. So, the people of the region are not get benefit from the researches, they added.
The observations came at a regional workshop titled "Improvement on vegetables and adaptive trials in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries" at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
The government with support from the Saarc secretariat organised the event.
Addressing the inaugural session, Bangladesh's Agriculture Secretary CQK Mustaq said Saarc has already agreed to collaborate and enhance food productivity.
He said it is very important that the agriculturists find out ways to share knowledge to this end.
In that line, it is imperative that Saarc initiates specific projects to increase vegetable production and thereby increase intake of vitamins and minerals, he said.
Dr M Shahabuddin Ahmed, principal scientific officer of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), proposed to form a regional research body, which could be named as South Asian Vegetables Research Network (Savnet).
This is important because Saarc countries have developed strong vegetable institutions and conducting researches, but tackling all concerns in the field of vegetables is not possible by any country alone, he said.
The collaboration could be through exchange of leading vegetable varieties, enhancing research capacity through the network and transferring proven technologies, Ahmed said.
For example, Bangladesh has a lot of winter vegetables, but not of monsoon. In this case, Bangladesh could use those best grown in other Saarc countries, told Rafiqul Islam Mandal of Saarc Agriculture Centre in Dhaka to The Daily Star.
Thus, sharing the best varieties and technologies among the Saarc nations would ultimately enhance production, he said.
Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (Barc) Executive Chairman Dr Wais Kabir said post harvest management of crops is an area where scientists of the region could share their experiences.
Barc Member Director Dr M Khalequzzaman A Chowdhury and Saarc Secretariat's Director Riaz Hamidullah also spoke at the inaugural session while agriculturists from Saarc countries attended it.