Editorial, News & commercial office:
55/A, H M Siddique Mansion (Level-7), Purana Paltan, Motijhel C/A, Dhaka-1000. Phone: +8802226640056,
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has placed strong emphasis on curtailing the import of agricultural and food commodities by aggressively boosting domestic output, urging officials of the Ministry of Agriculture to formulate and execute decisive interventions to ramp up the local cultivation of items that can be produced domestically.
The Prime Minister maintained that national reliance on imports must be scaled down progressively for food items and farm commodities that are viable for domestic cultivation. To achieve this objective, he stressed the urgent need to accelerate the delivery of research outcomes, high-yielding crop varieties, modern agronomic technologies, efficient irrigation systems, and farm mechanization directly to farmers to drive national production.
Tarique Rahman underscored that alongside safeguarding the food security of the country's population, agriculture must be made substantially more productive and financially rewarding for growers.
On Sunday (September 13), the Prime Minister walked from his Secretariat office to the Ministry of Agriculture’s conference room to join the high-level meeting with officials, notably choosing to take the stairs instead of using the elevator, according to Deputy Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Md. Sujauddowla (Sujan Mahmud).
During the session, ministry officials presented a comprehensive review of the overall agricultural landscape, ongoing ministerial initiatives, and future strategic roadmaps.
Detailing targeted measures to curb heavy dependence on imported edible oils by expanding domestic mustard production, the ministry reported that national mustard output stood at 824,000 metric tons in the 2021-22 fiscal year, rising significantly to 1.534 million tons in 2024-25 and reaching 1.541 million tons in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The presentation also highlighted strategic plans to enhance onion cultivation yields and local storage resilience, including the deployment of air-flow storage technology at the farm level and the rapid expansion of summer onion varieties. Simultaneously, field-level extension programs are actively propagating climate-resilient crop varieties designed to withstand soil salinity, drought, and waterlogging.
Highlighting breakthroughs in agricultural research, the ministry disclosed that a cumulative total of 1,090 improved crop varieties have been developed across different crop families, including 155 specialized rice varieties, alongside more than 1,000 patented agricultural technologies presented during the review.
Discussions emphasized accelerating farm mechanization to lower manual labor requirements, reduce operational overheads, and optimize per-acre productivity. Initiatives are in progress to foster indigenous innovation and domestic manufacturing of agricultural machinery, while ensuring modern equipment such as combine harvesters, reapers, and rice transplanters are supplied to farmers at subsidized, accessible rates.
Expanding solar-powered agricultural infrastructure featured prominently in the dialogue. Officials noted that 2,617 solar irrigation installations are currently operational nationwide, pointing out that expanding renewable-energy-driven irrigation networks will sharply cut farmers' operational irrigation expenditures while curbing reliance on conventional fossil fuels.
The national rollout of the "Krishak Card" (Farmer Card) scheme to deliver direct, unmediated state subsidies and support to the farming community received major focus. The Ministry of Agriculture has set a target to bring 4.3 million farmers under the digital card framework during the 2026-27 fiscal year, with immediate preparations underway to disburse cards to approximately 110,000 farmers in the inaugural phase.
The high-level session concluded with wide-ranging reviews on farm mechanization, solar irrigation expansion, canal excavation, nationwide afforestation drives, and modern preservation and supply-chain marketing of farm produce. The Prime Minister instructed authorities to maintain laser focus not only on elevating agricultural yields, but equally on reducing production expenditures for growers and guaranteeing fair, remunerative market prices for their harvests.
