Speakers at a seminar held in the city Thursday highly emphasised on family farming for better food security and achieving self sufficiency in food.
They said people can produce crops as per their requirements through household farming which is also environment friendly.
The observation was made at the seminar on the eve of the World Food Day 2014, observed globally Thursday with the theme 'family farming: feeding the world, caring the earth'.
The agriculture ministry organised the programme at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Auditorium.
Agriculture minister Begum Matia Chowdhury spoke as chief guest while fisheries and livestock minister Md Sayedul Hoque was special guest and Food and Agriculture Organization of UN (FAO) Bangladesh representative Mike Robson attended as guest of honour.
Additional secretary of agriculture ministry, Md Anwar Faruque, presented the keynote paper.
Agriculture minister said that the theme of 'the World Food Day' this year is very much appropriate for Bangladesh.
"Household farms can use their wealth and lands to produce food according to their requirements which is very much effective in achieving better food security," she said.
She said that the government has taken comprehensive agriculture policy following the changing climatic condition of the country.
The fisheries and livestock minister said that besides crops, the households should be enriched with fish and livestock farming.
He also mentioned the achievements of fisheries sector saying that the country's fish production reached 3.4 million tonnes in 2013 which was 0.8 million tonnes in 1980s.
An ideal family farm can ensure the required vitamin, protein, mineral, carbohydrates and other micronutrients for the family, he commented.
The paper, presented by Anwar Faruque, pointed out that price deprivation is a key obstacle to the farm sector especially to the household farms.
It said the prices of inputs including irrigation, ploughing have been increasing gradually but the farmers are not getting price compared to the increase in production costs.
It would be tough to keep the farmers engaged in farming if the government cannot ensure profitable price to the farmers, the papae suggested.
The paper also showed many successes in agricultural sector of the country.
It said that the country had 48.5 million of cattle in the financial year (FY) 2007-8 which reached 53.36 million in FY'13, number of poultry birds was 252.3 million which is now 307.4 million, milk production now is 3.73 million tonnes from 2.28 million tonnes in FY'8, egg output reached 6.74 billion pieces in FY'13 from 5.36 billion six years back.
Agriculture secretary, Dr SM Najmul Islam, presided over the seminar while executive chairman of BARC, Dr Md Kamal Uddin, among others, also spoke.
However, following the food day, a three day long food fair started on the day on BARC premises.
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