The government has taken a project worth Tk226 crore to expand the irrigation facilities during Boro season in the Sylhet region.
“We are giving importance to rice production to meet growing demand,” Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, the agriculture minister, said on Tuesday.
He added that fallow lands would be brought under cultivation.
The minister was talking to reporters at the Sylhet Circuit House after a visit to the agricultural tools factory in Sylhet.
He said that the government was working to bring a revolutionary change in agriculture in Sylhet.
“There are 1,250,000 hectares of land in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Habiganj and Moulvibazar and of these, 763,000 hectares are cultivable land,” he said.
Turning to politics, he hailed the efforts of the Search Committee formed to suggest names to the president for choosing a chief election commissioner and four other commissioners.
Razzaque said that the committee had got more than enough names to suggest a strong Election Commission.
“Though BNP did not submit any names, it will be possible to form a strong commission with the names available with the search committee,” he added.
“I hope the search committee will submit the list of the names of eligible people and we’ll get a strong Election Commission which will give a free and fair election as per the expectation of the nation and admired in the globe,” Razzaque said.
“The BNP is harming itself by boycotting the elections. This way they are also harming the nation as there is no alternative to discussion and dialogue,” said Razzaque, who is also a presidium member of Awami League.