Farmers must be at centre of agricultural policies: Swapon
He also highlighted the need for sustainable and profitable solutions to address the sector's dependence on agricultural subsidies.
Prime Minister's Political Adviser Zahir Uddin Swapon has stressed the need to place farmers at the centre of agricultural development, market systems and technological advancement, ensuring fair prices and market security for their produce.
He made the remarks as the chief guest at a seminar titled "Maximizing Agricultural Ecosystem Development: Integration, Financing and Facilitation through Blockchain" at a hotel in the capital today (15 October).
Swapon said discussions on modern agricultural value chains often focus on intermediaries and other stakeholders, while farmers, the primary producers, receive insufficient attention.
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"Regardless of how much technology advances, we will have to remain dependent on agriculture because of the biological necessity of human food consumption," he said, noting that around 42 to 45 percent of Bangladesh's population still depends on agriculture.
He said the government had accorded top priority to agriculture and farmers since assuming office.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has undertaken various initiatives to support farmers, including introducing the 'Farmer Card', he added.
Emphasizing farmers' production security, fair profits and access to markets, Swapon called for modern storage facilities for perishable goods and structural safeguards against exploitation by intermediaries and syndicates.
He also highlighted the need for sustainable and profitable solutions to address the sector's dependence on agricultural subsidies.
Speakers at the seminar stressed integrating transparency, financing and blockchain technology to improve agricultural market management.
Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) President Tabith Awal; International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Country Director for Bangladesh, Dr Valantine Achancho; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative in Bangladesh Jiaoqun Shi; Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) Bangladesh Country Director Dr Rudaba Khondker; and Innovatech Director Christina Olsen, attended the event as special guests.
Chittagong Stock Exchange PLC Managing Director M. Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar and representatives of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Bank Asia PLC also spoke at the seminar.
