Bangladesh successful in meeting food demand

Although the country's population is increasing by 20 lakh every year, Bangladesh has been able to meet its food demands due to the government's support in availing agricultural tools and efforts of farmers and scientists, said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury yesterday.
“In the context of global warming and other impediments, our rice scientists have developed a total of 10 varieties of rice. Five of them are salinity tolerant, which can be cultivated during Aman and Boro seasons, two are flood tolerant and two are draught tolerant,” said Matia Chowdhury while inaugurating the Agricultural Policy Support Unit (APSU).
Set up under the agriculture ministry, APSU is designed to provide timely, adequate and accurate information to formulate policy and carry out in-depth research to generate policy options.
Implemented by International Food Policy Research Institute, APSU has been established by the Ministry of Agriculture and the USAID-funded policy Research and Strategy Support Project.
During the function held at Sech Bhaban, the minister said along with population growth, the country is losing arable land because of climate change and global warming.
She said more varieties of rice are under development, but due to improper implementation of government policies many farmers have been deprived of just price for their rice produce.