Motia stresses on coordinated water policy

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Agriculture Minister Motia Chowdhury Wednesday said a coordinated water policy would ensure sustainable and equitable use of water, leading the region towards achieving food security, reports BSS.
A strong supporter of regional efforts in ensuring sustainable food security, she called for a dynamic and effective operation of the SAARC Food Bank to ensure regional food supply.
"Ensuring food security in the overpopulated SAARC countries is a big challenge", Motia, addressing the 5th meeting of the SAARC Technical Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development at a city hotel, said.
For instance, she referred to the country's growing demand of food and said," Bangladesh requires 300,000 tonnes of additional rice every year to feed the new faces."
Motia, however, mentioned with confidence that the present government has initiated vigorous efforts towards achieving self- sufficiency in food.
"Our farmers have grown a record amount of 20 million tonnes of Boro rice this year," she said and called upon all concerned to keep this trend of production up.
In this respect, the agriculture minister also stressed the need for regional cooperation in agriculture to attain food security.