2024-02-15 06:55:14
Agriculture Minister said that the government is very vigilant so that the price of daily commodities does not increase during Ramadan. Md. Abdus Shaheed.
The minister said this in response to questions from reporters at the secretariat on Wednesday (February 14).
Prior to this, a nine-member delegation of the US Department of Agriculture led by the chairman of the US Soybean Export Council, Stan Born, the Egyptian ambassador in Dhaka, Omar Mahi Eldin Ahmed Fahmy, and the Canadian ambassador, Lilly Nichols, held a separate meeting with the agriculture minister.
A few days ago, a meeting was held with the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce and Food regarding the market. Can you give relief to the people – the Agriculture Minister said, ‘We are giving great importance to market management. The government is very careful against hoarders. Consumers will not be allowed to artificially suffer by stockpiling products in any way. Ramadan is coming, we are very careful not to increase the price of goods. Recently we have three ministers (Minister of Food, Minister of State for Commerce and Minister of Agriculture) meeting, whenever necessary we will sit together. If necessary, I will also meet with other ministries.
The minister also said that strict monitoring is being done so that small traders do not fall into danger. Besides, soon the price of onion and potato will decrease further, he said.
Egypt wants to start jute cultivation with the cooperation of Bangladesh
In the meeting, Egyptian Ambassador Omar Mahi Eldin Ahmed Fahmy sought Bangladesh’s cooperation to resume jute cultivation in Egypt. He said, once jute was cultivated in Egypt, now it is not. Currently, Egypt has a good jute processing industry. We want to restart jute cultivation in Egypt. In this regard, the cooperation of Bangladesh is needed in terms of varieties, seeds and technology.
The Agriculture Minister said that Egypt’s proposal is under process and a joint working group will be formed in this regard. Egypt and Bangladesh have a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in cotton production. The minister requested Egypt to use it for cooperation in cotton production.
In a meeting with the ambassador of Canada, the agriculture minister requested to buy vegetables including mango, jackfruit from Bangladesh. Besides, he sought Canada’s cooperation in agriculture, especially the use of drones, agro-processing, post-harvest management, cold storage, etc.
Canada’s ambassador Lily Nichols assured active cooperation in these matters. He said that the agriculture of Bangladesh can be made more export oriented and the juice of mango, pineapple etc. can be exported by agricultural processing.
He said that he will also take initiatives to connect the businessmen of the country with Canada’s Trade Facilitation Organization (TFO).
The Agriculture Minister said that the delegation of the US Department of Agriculture expressed its interest in exporting soybeans to Bangladesh and cooperating with Bangladesh in agricultural processing.