Food security stressed at FAO conference: Agriculture minister
Ensuring sustainable food security by overcoming the impacts of climate change in agriculture was a priority issue at the United Nations' FAO conference, said Agriculture Minister Mohammad Abdur Razzaque on Thursday.
Bangladesh is hosting the 36th regional conference of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for the first time and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina virtually inaugurated the ministerial-level meeting at the conference today.
Minister Razzaque was addressing a media briefing on the third day of the conference at InterContinental Dhaka in the city.
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The minister said, "Sustainable food security with the introduction of climate resilience agriculture systems is being discussed at the meeting. Expanding the use of technology for the digitalisation of agriculture is also at the center of discussion."
The premier has stressed on enhanced cooperation among Asia-Pacific countries in agricultural research and education for ensuring food security. FAO needs to mobilise more resources so that new varieties of climate-resilient crops and technologies can be invented. She also focused on the sharing of cutting-edge technologies among 46 FAO member states, Razzak said.
Referring to the prime minister's remarks, Razzaque said Bangladesh is now putting emphasis on three things- mechanisation, commercialization, and agro-processing. The country's agriculture sector is being modernized with the implementation of the processes mentioned.
The use of technology in the entire farming process, from production to distribution, was another big agenda in today's meeting. Technology assets can play a significant role at each phase of the post-production value chain, said the minister, adding that yielding agricultural products without the use of pesticides was also a topic of discussion at the meeting.
Agriculture ministers, secretaries, and officials from other public and private organisations of 46 member countries attended the conference.
