Govt plans to double paddy output through long-term strategic plan

The government is undertaking a plan to double the country's paddy production through a "Long Term Strategic Plan" with the help of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), official sources said.
The move came following the visit of members of the parliamentary standing committee on ministry of agriculture (MoA) to Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand for ovserving their agricultural activities and development.
The committee has recommended some proposals to the MoA to boost up the country's agriculture sector.
The MoA has started taking steps to formulate the plan. In this connection, the ministry sent separate letters to its six departments concerned for their opinion or proposal on the issue.
"I am not interested to talk about the plan. But we the standing committee members visited Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand to see for ourselves their different agricultural projects, Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture ministry Shawkat Momen Shahjahan told the FE when asked about the topic.
Talking to the FE Tuesday, a senior MoA official said a letter, in this regard, was sent Sunday last to the chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), director general of the Agriculture Extension Department (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, executive director of the Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA) and director of the Department of Agricultural Marketing.
According to the official, the departments have to submit their proposals within December 31 next on the subject. After getting their proposals, the MoA will go for the next course of action for formulating the plan. But it is not matured yet, actually it is now in its initial stage, he added.
"We want to double the country's paddy production within the next five to eight years through a long- term strategic plan following the success stories of other Asian countries," sources concerned said.
"There is no alternative to doubling paddy production to improve country's food security. We are expecting that Bangladesh will be a rice exporting country in the near future," they said.
Rice production in the country was 33.76 million tonnes in the last fiscal year. The country has a demand for nearly 31.0 million tonnes of rice annually, according to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF).