Agriculture

Thailand, July 13 (AP/UNB) — Farmers in eastern Thailand have celebrated the start of the sowing season by racing their buffaloes, whose usual duty is to plow the fields. Read More »

By Isaiah Esipisu Dodoma, Tanzania, Jul 11 2019 (IPS) – Research scientists are studying groundwater resources in three African countries in order to understand the renewability of the source and how people can use it sustainably towards a green revolution in Africa. Read More »

A Manifesto on Food for Health has been produced by the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture. It states that it is possible to create good health through good nutrition. Health effects from the current industrial food system adversely affect every stage of human life and range from prevalent and growing undernutrition and malnutrition to a wide ... Read More »

From Danielle Nierenberg Women in the food system and technology sectors face a lot of obstacles. The agriculture sector is rapidly incorporating new technologies and innovations, but the sector often falls flat in incorporating women into AgTech. Women in the sector make on average 61 cents to the dollar in wages compared to their male counterparts, and women-led startups receive ... Read More »

Dhaka, Jun 27 (UNB) – Farmers will be able to take loan at 4 percent interest for producing non-major food grains, said State Minister for Rural Development and Co-operatives Division Shawpan Bhattacharjee in Parliament on Thursday. A project titled ‘Production and Marketing of Nutrition-rich and High Priced Non-major Food Grains aiming to Alleviate Poverty’ will soon be implemented by Bangladesh ... Read More »

Cultivation of bitter gourd on a large scale in different upazilas of the district and fair price of the crop has started changing the fate of several thousand farmers. Most of the bitter gourd farmers are very happy as they getting a double price of their products during the current season, local people said. Farmers of Ghior upazila of the ... Read More »

In April 2018, the FAO hosted the Second International Symposium on Agroecology, following the first in 2014. With the main objective of moving from dialogue to action, the Symposium brought together different stakeholders and catalyzed inter-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration. The proceedings were released in March 2019. Among the Symposium’s outcomes were the launching of the Scaling up Agroecology Initiative, the ... Read More »

With multi-dimensional assistance of the government, farmers have produced an all-time record 21.66-lakh tonnes of clean Boro rice (32.50 tonnes paddy) this season in Rangpur agriculture region. Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said farmers have exceeded the fixed production target of producing 20.88-lakh tonnes of clean Boro rice (31.32-lakh tonnes paddy) by 3.73 percent or 78,800 tonnes ... Read More »

Most quarters agree that agriculture and food systems urgently need to change to make progress on several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while staying within planetary boundaries. However, two narratives dominate the discussion: incremental steps to improve efficiency in conventional agriculture while reducing negative externalities, versus transformative redesign of farming systems based on agroecological principles. The SDGs offer an opportunity to ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 30 (UNB) – Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Thursday said the government has decided to export 10 to 15 tonnes of rice, aiming to save famers from losses. Dr Razzaque disclosed the decision at a press conference on the government steps over the market price of paddy at his ministry’s auditorium. The minister said the government is ... Read More »

Adoption of the latest agriculture technologies evolved by Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) at farmers’ level could enhance safe and nutritious food output and make farm-activities more profitable. Agriculturists expressed the views at a workshop on ‘Introduction of BARI-evolved Modern Technologies’ held at seminar room of Regional Agriculture Research Station (RARS) of BARI at Burirhat in Rangpur city on Sunday, ... Read More »

Litchi is now flooded in local markets of Meherpur as the district has witnessed bumper production of the delicious and juicy fruit thanks to favorable environment and extending necessary supports to growers. Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Meherpur office sources said 395 hectares of land were brought under the litchi cultivation in the district. Bumper litchi production is also ... Read More »

Naogaon, May 26 – The phrase ‘drought-prone region’ to describe a cluster of districts in Bangladesh’s north sounds almost benign, and hardly captures the perpetual hardships of people engaged in a daily battle for water, the other name of life. The paucity of water also makes it extremely difficult for farming or any form of agriculture to thrive in the ... Read More »

With a share of 10–12% in carbon-dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq.), agriculture contributes substantially to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Considering indirect emissions from agriculture-related activities such as fertiliser production and land use change, this share can be up to 30%. In 2005, the agricultural sector contributed 56% to the emissions of the anthropogenic non-CO2 GHGs, i.e. nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 22 (UNB) – Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain on Wednesday alleged that farmers are not getting the fair prices of paddy due to the lack of an agricultural policy and government’s “irresponsibility”. “It’s unimaginable that farmers are being punished for bountiful paddy production. They’re now being forced to set fire to paddy fields for not getting the fair ... Read More »

By Baher Kamal Madrid, May (IPS) – Amazingly organised social communities, bees ensure food chain. ‘Bee’ grateful to them… at least on their World Day! While the (surprisingly) still called homo sapiens continues to destroy Mother Nature, bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, carry on performing their vital role as one of the most marvellous, unpaid, ... Read More »

Chuadanga, May 21 (UNB) – In a rare move, Deputy Commissioner of the district Gopal Chandra Das along with other government officials joined poor farmers in harvesting their paddy from the field in Jibannagar upazila on Tuesday. With the slogan ‘Farmers are not alone, we are beside them’, the DC joined the paddy harvesting activities in the morning. Together with ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 21 – The BNP on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to deputy commissioners across the country demanding to ensure fair prices of paddy and clear all arrears of jute mill workers immediately. As part of the programme, Dhaka district unit of the BNP led by its president Dewan Salahuddin and Nipun Roy Chowdhury submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner ... Read More »

Litchi is now flooded in local markets of Dinajpur as the district has witnessed bumper production of the delicious fruit thanks to favorable environment and extending necessary supports to growers. Touhidul Iqbal, deputy-director of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Dinajpur office, said 5,002 hectares of land were brought under litchi cultivation in 13 upazilas in the district. There are ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 19 – Though stopping rice import entirely is not possible, it can be restricted to save the country’s farmers, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Sunday. “Both agriculture and farmers are the driving forces of the country. So, it’s the moral duty of the government to resolve their problems,” he said. The minister said this when media ... Read More »

Procurement of Boro rice has been started in all eight districts under Rajshahi division with the main thrust of facilitating the farmers towards getting fair price of the newly harvested food grain. According to the official sources, the government has taken decision of procuring 2,69,550 tonnes of boiled rice, 22,476 tonnes of non-boiled rice and 26,614 tonnes of paddy in ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 18 – Farmers on Saturday urged the government of Bangladesh to save them by ensuring that they get a fair price for paddy. They made the call at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity. It was jointly organised with Bangladesh Auto Rice Mills Owners’ Association (BARMOA). Their demands included ‘identifying real farmers’, disbursing loan at two percent ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 17 (UNB) – Senior BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Friday claimed that wrong government policies are denying farmers fair prices of their products. “Why is the government not procuring paddy directly from farmers with fair prices?” the BNP standing committee member asked at a reception programme arranged by BNP at its chairperson’s Gulshan office on the occasion ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 17 (UNB)- Bangladesh Krishak Samity (BKS) on Friday called a nationwide sit-in protest for May 23 in front of deputy commissioners’ offices seeking fair prices for farm produces. “We’ll call non-stop sit-in and nationwide road blockades next month if our demands are not met,” BKS General Secretary Sazzad Jahir Chandan told a human-chain in front of the Jatiya Press ... Read More »

Dhaka, May 16 (UNB) – Speakers at a human-chain programme here on Thursday urged the government to take steps enabling famers to get the fair prices of their produces as they are struggling with low prices. Students of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University formed the human chain in front of the university gate after a Tangail farmer set his Boro paddy field ... Read More »

Tangail, May 12 – A farmer set his Boro paddy field on fire protesting the paddy price fall and the serious scarcity of day labourers in the district on Sunday noon. Farmer Abdul Malek Shikder enacted this unique act of protest at Bankina village in Kalahati Upazila. Talking to UNB, Malek said per maund paddy is being sold at Tk ... Read More »

The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has brought a total of 3528 hectares of land under Jute cultivation in all seven upazilas in the district with a production target of 46,353 bales during the current season. Of the total, 2956 hectares were brought under Tosha variety of jute with a production target of 40,061 bale, 776 hectares local variety with ... Read More »

Rajshahi, May 12 – Mango growers in the Bangladesh district of Rajshahi are expecting a bumper yield this year as they said the rains caused by recent cyclone Fani have brought an extra benefit to them. Dr Alim Uddin, a scientific officer at Rajshahi Fruits Research Institute, said, “The rains caused by Fani have prompted the growth of mangoes. Growers ... Read More »

Los Angeles, May 9 (AP/UNB) — The nation’s most productive agricultural state moved Wednesday to ban a controversial pesticide widely used to control a range of insects but blamed for harming brain development in babies. The move cheered by environmentalists would outlaw chlorpyrifos after scientists deemed it a toxic air contaminant and discovered it to be more dangerous than previously ... Read More »

Local office of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has issued a warning for early harvesting Boro paddy aiming to protect the leading food crop of the country from natural calamities. The DAE are disseminating warning messages through using miking in the Bogura district as natural disasters including thunderstorms, nor’westers may damage paddy. A total of 1,88,100 hectares of land have ... Read More »