Workshop on Ganges Basin

3 November 2011, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

A two-day inception workshop on Challenge Program on Water and Food's (CPWF) Ganges Basin Development Challenge was held at a city hotel on Monday and Tuesday. On behalf of Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and its Challenge Program for CPWF, Ganges 5 has organised the event, said a press release. The CGIAR has an international programme working in Asian and African countries called CPWF to increase the resilience of agricultural and aquaculture systems in the coastal areas of the Ganges Delta. In the inaugural session, Prof Dr MA Sattar Mandal, member, planning commission, has attended as chief guest. Dr Rafiqul Islam Mondal, DG, BARI, Md Habibur Rhaman, DG, DAE and Enamul Haque, DG, BRRI have were present as special guests. Dr Wais Kabir, executive chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) chaired the session. In the inaugural address, both the chief guest and the chairperson highlighted the challenges of development in the southwest Ganges basin areas and emphasised the need for integrated development approach for poverty alleviation, employment generation development of resilience among the coastal people who often suffer from man made and climatic disasters. Under the programme in Bangladesh and India, three CGIAR centres--IRRI, WorldFish, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) along with Institute of Water Modeling (IWM)--are leading research programmes to address the issues faced by the people of the southern districts in Bangladesh due to salinity increase and climate change.