FE Report
Two individual farmers, a state-run institute and two private firms have won the "Agrow Award," introduced this year by the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Bangladesh. It is the first ever agriculture award of SCB anywhere in the world.
Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury as the chief guest handed over the awards to the winners at a ceremony held at a city hotel Tuesday.
The SCB, in association with Bangladesh Brand Forum, honoured the individuals and institutions in five separate categories for their outstanding contribution in the sector in a bid to spur innovation and modernisation in the agriculture sector.
Khan Asaduzzaman, a farmer from Barisal, received the award in the category "Farmer of the Year (male)" for his diversified farming activities covering fisheries, dairy and fruits. While in the category of "Farmer of the Year (female)," Alia Begum from Faridpur won the award for her outstanding contribution to poultry, dairy and livestock farming.
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), a state-run multi-crop search institute, bagged the award in the "Best Associated Industry in Innovation and Research" category.
The Agrow Award in the category "Best Associated Industry in Support and Execution" went to the Alim Industries Limited for its revolutionised agro-farming contribution through easy-to-operate machineries, which includes power thresher, ventilating dryer and rice reaper etc.
Creation Private Limited garnered the award in the "Best Agricultural Exporter" category. It exports jute diversified products to many developed countries like UK, Germany, France and Japan etc, officials said.
Apart from the five winners, Lal Teer Seed Limited was recognised as the "Honourable Mention in Research and Innovation" for its leading role as a researcher, supplier and producer of vegetable seeds across the country.
A 12-member jury panel including noted agricultural experts selected the winners from a pool of nominated ones, officials said.
Jim McCabe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh, Shariful Islam, CEO of Bangladesh Brand Forum and Bitopi Das Chowdhury, Head of Corporate Affairs of the bank, addressed the award giving ceremony.
Mr Jim McCabe said, "I hope that through this humble attempt we will be able to motivate thousands of farmers around the country to come up with exemplary contribution in the agricultural sector."
Earlier, an SCB official said that primarily, the bank's aim is to continue the agriculture award for a certain period of time like 5-6 years in Bangladesh, encouraging innovation and modernisation in the sector by bringing the success stories ahead so that other farmers and agro-institutions can follow them.
