Agriculture, food security, and rural development are priority areas for Bangladesh. The Local Consultative Group on Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development (LCG-AFSRD) aims to stimulate dialogue among development partners to harmonize and enhance aid effectiveness in support of the Government’s own priorities.

Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Md Nasiruzzaman, chaired the ninth meeting of the LCG-AFSRD while FAO Representative in Bangladesh Robert D Simpson co-chaired.

Md Abdur Rouf, Additional Secretary (Policy, Planning and Coordination), Ministry of Agriculture, presented a draft plan of action for the National Agriculture Policy 2018. This is the first time that an action plan has been developed for Bangladesh’s agriculture policy. Another key discussion topic was development partner priorities for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the agriculture sector.

Speaking at the event, FAO Representative in Bangladesh Robert D Simpson said: “By sharing information and ideas at this forum we can achieve more effective and coordinated implementation of national policies and plans. We have clearly identified a number of opportunities in terms of working towards the SDGs, providing nutritious diets for all, and stimulating rural development through agriculture.”

He also stressed the importance of including the private sector and meeting new challenges. He said: “It’s important to look at policy and investment and innovation but we must also look at the private sector to create an engine for growth for small farmers. We must also be alert to emerging challenges such as agricultural diseases and pests.”

Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Md Nasiruzzaman, said that agricultural mechanization, commercialization, and crop diversification were key ambitions for the government and that investment in agriculture was needed to tackle rural poverty. He also noted that only two per cent of the hill regions of Bangladesh were cultivated, describing them as a potential ‘gold mine’ for the development of high value crops for export, such as cashew nuts.

Christian Berger, Senior Agricultural Specialist from the World Bank, told the participants that it was important to consider where priority investments should be made in an effort help subsistence farmers become commercial food producers. He said that farmers should be encouraged to work together and that new technologies and market opportunities should be made available to them.