Promoting education in agriculture

THE countries that did very well in agriculture invested a great deal at the outset in modern agricultural education. Bangladesh has its lone agricultural university at Mymensingh for many years, a few agricultural colleges and the Bangladesh Agricultural Institute (BAI). The extension of agricultural education through the country's mainstream secondary and higher secondary education system are confined mainly to token activities.
Clearly, such meagre facilities for modern agricultural education for a nation of over 150 million cannot address the actual need in the sector. Therefore, to reap big dividends from agriculture in the future, investments in agricultural education must be increased substantially.

Abu Imran
Naya Paltan, Dhaka