Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdus Shahid has said that the country's agriculture is moving forward amidst the effects of climate change and country is self-sufficient in food due to the hard work of agricultural scientists and researchers.
He said: “Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman laid the foundation of agricultural research in this country. And under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, agriculture has been modernized."
He said this as the virtual chief guest on the opening day of the two-day international conference on Advanced Agricultural Research on the initiative of Syhlet Agricultural University Research System (Saures) on Thursday.
The agriculture minister said that the present government is agriculture and farmer friendly. To promote agriculture, the government is subsidizing fertilizers and seeds and other agricultural inputs.
He said that collaboratively, educators, scientists, and researchers must enhance the nation's agricultural methods to meet global standards. Bangladesh is one of the countries that are at high risk of climate change.
In the chief patron's speech at the event, Sylhet Agricultural University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Md Jamal Uddin Bhuiya said that agriculture is playing an important role in the implementation of Vision 2041 announced by the prime minister.
He said that agricultural scientists are working tirelessly to advance the country through the best use of agriculture, animal resources, fishery resources which are the important components of biodiversity.
Prof Dr Md Tofazzal Islam presented the main article in the program under the chairmanship of Saures Director Prof Dr Mohammad Shafi Ullah Bhuiya.
More than 600 teachers, researchers and scientists from 45 educational and research institutes from different countries, including America, Japan, Italy, Australia, Pakistan, South Korea, India, China, Kenya and Bangladesh, attended the international agricultural conference with the theme of smart agriculture technology in view of opening up possibilities and facing possible challenges.
Cooperation between scientists in agricultural research will be expanded through this conference. About 300 scientific articles will be presented in 8 sessions at the conference.
Notably, since the beginning of Saures' journey in 2008, more than six hundred research programs have been successfully completed under Saures' supervision.
