Govt working to remove barriers to export of farm products: Razzaque

The government is working with its utmost importance to remove the existing barriers in the export of fruits and vegetables to the developed countries, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said today.

"We want to export agricultural products not only in the Middle East but also in the key markets of the developed countries including Europe and Japan," he said.

Therefore, work has already started to implement the Good Agricultural Practice Policy (GAP) in the country to remove the export barriers, Razzaque said.

The agriculture minister was speaking at a view exchange meeting after inspecting Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC)'s cold storage, built to facilitate the export of agriculture products, at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

"The country did not have an accredited lab of international standard, we have set it up. From there the certification has started. Work is underway to set up a vacuum heat treatment plant for mango export," he said.

Razzaque said the country's exports are mainly dependent on garments. "So, not just relying on garments, rather, exports need to be diversified and we have to increase the export of agricultural products."

There is a lot of potential for the export of agricultural products and to make full use of this potential, work is underway to keep agricultural products safe from production to shipment, he said.

The capacity of BADC's cold storage at the airport will be further enhanced for the export of agricultural products, the minister added.