Agriculture Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that the government has continued all efforts to keep production in the agricultural sector uninterrupted.
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at an event organized on the occasion of World Food Day at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council auditorium in Khamarbari of the capital on Wednesday.
Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that even if the agricultural infrastructure and crops, livestock and fish farms are damaged due to the effects of climate change, floods and cyclones, there will be no shortage in food supply for everyone in the country.
He said that at the time of the country’s independence, food for around 7.5 million people was produced on the land, but now it is possible to feed around 180 million people even though the amount of land has decreased.
At present, about 4 crore tonnes of food grains are being produced in the country, the agricultural adviser said, the country is now self-sufficient in grain production. Our capacity to produce enough nutritious food especially fruits, vegetables, pulses, oil, fish, meat, milk and eggs has increased manifold.
He said, there will be no shortage of food supply for everyone in the country. However, this expectation can be easily fulfilled if we can reduce post-harvest losses and wastage of food products.
He said that individual and joint investment initiatives should be taken at the government and private levels to prevent food wastage through modern post-harvest technology and processing and efficient and modern transportation system.
The adviser said that post-harvest wastage and loss of agricultural produce in the country ranged from 10 to 40 percent in the case of crops, especially vegetables and as a result the rate of wastage and loss was highest which was around 40 percent.
He said that a large part of the food produced is being wasted at the consumer level. About 82 kg of food is wasted per person in the country annually. There is no substitute for raising awareness to prevent food waste.
Dr. Secretary of Agriculture. Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian presided over the event as a special guest, Food Secretary Md. Masudul Hasan and FAO’s Bangladesh representative Dr. Xiaokun Xi.
Chief Scientific Officer (Cereals) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council and Director of SAARC Agricultural Center, Dhaka presented the keynote at the event. Md. Harunur Rashid.
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