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Focus on Aman production to save groundwater: Matia

25 April 2010, 18:00 PM

METROPOLITAN

Staff Correspondent

From right, Syngenta Bangladesh Managing Director Sarwar Ahmed, Brac Executive Director Dr Mahabub Hossain, Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, journalist Kawser Rahman, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council Executive Chairman Dr Wais Kabir and IRRI Representative in Bangladesh Dr Mohammed Zainul Abedin hold copies of a book titled 'Journalists' Views - State of Agriculture in Bangladesh: Secured Food, Secured Future' at its publication ceremony at the National Press Club in the city yesterday.Photo: STAR

Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury yesterday called on all concerned to concentrate on increasing the productivity of Aman, which is produced during monsoon and which requires less extraction of underground water. “Over the decades, Aman was neglected and rice production by underground water was considered a success, but the underground water depleted alarmingly,” she said, adding that neither policy makers nor scientists have cared for the issue. Considering these facts, the government now wants return of care for Aman, Matia said at the publication ceremony of a book titled 'Journalists' Views - State of Agriculture in Bangladesh: Secured Food, Secured Future' edited by journalists Kawser Rahman and Reaz Ahmad. Palok Publishers has brought out the book under the Forum for Information Dissemination on Agriculture (FIDA) - Syngenta Fellowship Programme 2009. “We have taken a policy to provide subsidy in supplementary irrigation for Aman, if needed,” the minister said at the programme at the National Press Club in the city. The provision for supplementary irrigation will be kept in the budget, she observed. Stating that scientists over the decades also did not care for better varieties of rice for Aman, Matia said, adding that so far everybody had a mindset that Aman did not require any extra care for its good yield. This has to be changed to help save underground water. She hoped that this year Boro would have a bumper yield, as farmers got all sorts of fertilisers in subsidised rates and in time despite the fact that flash floods in Sunamganj and Kishoreganj damaged rice recently. Turning to the journalists, she said they have to consider all aspects before reporting on yields, because negative reporting, which does not reflect the whole scenario of the facts, can cause increasing food prices. Lauding journalists' role in reporting on agriculture, Brac Executive Director Dr Mahabub Hossain said they [reporters] are helping farmers and policy makers by their reporting. However, they have to be balanced in reporting on issues, which are negative. Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council Executive Chairman Dr Wais Kabir said farming in today's globalised world has become quite complex. Analytical reporting, therefore, could greatly help scientists and policy makers. Dr Zainul Abedin, representative of International Rice Research Institute in Bangladesh, Syngenta Bangladesh Managing Director Sarwar Ahmed and Forkan Ahmed of Palok Publishers also spoke. Journalist Reaz Ahmad moderated the programme, which was chaired by journalist Kawser Rahman.