Farmers to have access to modern tech

Agriculture Secretary Dr Mohammad Emdad Ullah Mian Sunday announced the formulation of the Agriculture Future Outlook Plan 2025, a strategic roadmap aimed at extending modern technology to the grassroots level.
He said a key component of the initiative is the upcoming Khamari App, which will provide farmers with crop management tools and real-time market information.
The announcement came at the Bangladesh Agriculture Summit 2025 held at a hotel in the capital.
Dr Emdad was the chief guest at the event jointly organised by LightCastle Partners, a Bangladeshi consultancy firm with global footprints, and Switzerland-based Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (SAF), said an agriculture ministry press release.
Other notable speakers included farm economist Dr MA Sattar Mandol; Md Saiful Alam, director general of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE); Dr Md Raju Ahmed, deputy secretary of the Smallholder Agricultural Competitiveness Project under the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM); Prof Abu Noman Faruq Ahmed of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University; and Mohammed Mansur, general secretary of the Bangladesh Fruits, Vegetables, and Allied Products Exporters Association (BFVAPEA).
Dr Emdad emphasised the government's vision for inclusive agriculture and expanded technological integration in farming.
He said the Agriculture Future Outlook Plan 2025 is a cornerstone strategy designed to bring advanced technologies to rural farmers, with the Khamari App serving as a crucial tool for improving decision-making and market access.
Besides, he said although food production has increased to meet the needs of a growing population, the fragmentation of agricultural land remains a major barrier to development.
The outlook plan will also focus on enhancing productivity on limited land resources, the agriculture secretary noted.
"Agriculture continues to be the largest employment sector in Bangladesh, engaging 36.9 per cent of the country's total labour force," he added.
Shubham Ray, lead of growth and innovation at LightCastle Partners, presented a paper titled "Opportunities, Challenges, and Branding Strategies for Agri-Exports of Bangladesh."
The paper revealed that 20-44 per cent of Bangladesh's annual vegetable production is wasted, resulting in an estimated loss of $2.4 billion per annum.
Other major obstacles to export growth include a lengthy chain of intermediaries, low profit margins, shipment delays, lack of sufficient cold storage facilities, weak emphasis on certification, and high air freight premiums, he said.
He also said air cargo costs are 30-50 per cent higher than maritime freight, and due to fragile production systems, 20-35 per cent of fruits and vegetables perish before reaching the export destinations.
Also present at the event were Bijon Islam, chief executive officer of LightCastle Partners; Md Abdur Rauf, director of programme development at SAF; and Zahedul Amin, director at LightCastle Partners.
BFVAPEA representatives said between July and March of the current financial year, Bangladesh's agriculture sector generated $821.06 million in export earnings, up from $773.01 million during the same period of FY24, marking a 6.21 per cent year-on-year growth.
The agriculture sector accounted for 2.21 per cent of the country's total export earnings during this period.

tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com