Modernization of agriculture and production of higher yields. ..

Picture of Eati Akter

Eati Akter

Sub- Editor

80-85 percent of the people of Bangladesh are involved in agriculture. Agriculture is the economy of the country The main driving force. At a time when the whole world is in economic disorientation during the Corona period The farmers of our country are working hard to ignore the corona epidemic kept the economy prosperous. Due to which the progress of agriculture continues and the country Saved from extreme economic and social crisis. Since independence so far, the agricultural sector has No other sector has seen sustained growth. At present the country is self-sufficient in food production Farmers of our country have the biggest contribution behind. This time due to floods, Aman rice cultivation is extensive Losses were incurred, resulting in production targets not being achieved. So the price of rice is record in the paddy harvesting season The amount has increased to minimum coarse rice 50 taka and small rice 65 taka/kg. Agricultural products of the country The main reason for the high cost of production is government neglect in the agricultural sector. Last 80s Instead of giving importance to the development of the agricultural sector, the government gave importance to industrialization. but Industrialization did not happen but bank loans, government land and foreignization were looted in the name of industry With factories. On the other hand, the agriculture sector has suffered greatly. Governmentally to the agricultural sector Neglect continues. For example, due to small losses, all the government jute mills were shut down and the workers Dismissed from the job. But during the corona period, the export of all products decreased, but jute and jute Exports of goods increased by 40%. After all, after the invention of polybags from jute, its production not happening It continues to destroy the environment. But stop corruption and wastage and reform the mills It is possible to make government jute mills profitable, but it is not being done. As a result, the price of jute is not increasing. The concerned workers are not getting their jobs back. Farmers have become discouraged to grow jute. Drought, flood, salt change and nutrient enrichment are needed to increase food production—latest inventions. Development and use of more productive seeds and hybrids. Many of these seeds are the country’s agriculture Scientists have invented In our country till now 105 high yielding varieties and 250 have been bred Lagos invented agricultural technology. But inventing high-yielding seeds should not stop there. The most effective of the seeds developed are to deliver them to the farmer at an affordable price will and should be encouraged to use. In addition, more productive seeds need to be developed. Because, the higher the yield, the lower the cost of production. As against meat-6.95 million tonnes Production volume was 5.86 million tonnes, against milk-14.48 million tonnes production volume was 6.97 million tonnes. million tonnes, against 20 lakh tonnes of edible oil, the production amount is 5 lakh tonnes, pulses 25 lakh tonnes On the contrary, the production amount is 9 lakh tons, against 14 lakh tons of sugar, the production amount is 1 lakh tons, Onion production is 1.5 million tons against 2.4 million tons, ginger is 3 million tons against production The quantity is 2 lakh tons, against 6 lakh tons of garlic, the production amount is 5 lakh tons. Production of these products Deficiency should be made up by increasing as necessary. Otherwise huge amount of money will be spent on importation.

There are other important factors to make the country’s agricultural sector globally competitive need One of which is complete mechanization of agriculture, use of latest agricultural technology, Bringing all crop lands under irrigation and electrifying all irrigators with electricity/solar power, all agricultural Making the cost of inputs affordable and providing low interest bank loans as per the needs of farmers need Still 27% of agricultural land is not covered by irrigation. In addition, the land that has come under irrigation, Most of them are powered by oil-based irrigation machines. News published in various media According to BADC data, the contribution of deep tubewells to irrigation of the country is 19.26%, powered pumps 22.35% and 53.59% of shallow tube wells. Total irrigated area in 2018-19 irrigation season was 55.87 lakh hectares, which is 73% of the total irrigated land. 44% of the total irrigated area is electrified And 56% of the land is using diesel powered irrigation. Use of diesel powered irrigation machines 5,620 crores of additional expenditure has been incurred due to this. Whereas diesel operated 2,09,644 shallow tube wells Conversion to electricity or solar powered irrigation pumps will incur additional operating costs 116 crores of rupees. In addition, it may require 3000 megawatts of electricity. Diesel powered irrigation The cost of 116 crore rupees to run electricity is very little. In addition, there is no shortage of electricity in the country now. Rather, more than half of the power plants have to be shut down due to lack of demand. That’s a lot of money Gacha is going, so very soon all the diesel powered irrigators will be electrified and connected to electricity needs to be arranged. 5,000 per irrigation season, then the cost of irrigation in the production of agricultural products is less will decrease by more than Rs. As a result, the cost of crop production will decrease. All will decrease further If you can use solar power in irrigation. Besides, the agricultural lands which are still out of irrigation reach There is, it is necessary to bring it under irrigation and make those irrigation machines electric. Then the harvest Production will increase a lot. On the other hand, according to BADC’s survey report, ‘currently only 27% of irrigation works Surface water is being used. The rest of the irrigation works are done with underground water. The water level has dropped Going’. But falling water level in the country is very harmful for the country. So 100% irrigation works Surface water use needs to be arranged. In addition, irrigation efficiency needs to be 100%. then Water wastage will be stopped and cost will be greatly reduced. At present irrigation efficiency in the country is reported to be 38%. The crisis of agricultural labor in the country is acute. Hence, wages are high, resulting in high cost of production. so The entire agriculture should be mechanized. It will eliminate wage crisis, reduce wastage, reduce time. As a result, the production cost of crops will be greatly reduced. The current government is very mechanized in the country’s agriculture gave importance The government combined farmers with 50-70% subsidy through Tk 200 crore this year Provided agricultural machinery including harvesters, reapers. In addition, projects of 3 thousand crore rupees have been taken up done, through which about 51 thousand agricultural machinery will be given. Farming of agricultural machinery and the use of machinery at the marginal level are also popular Provision should be made to create trained manpower to facilitate maintenance. As well as other countries Agricultural machinery manufacturing companies should also be encouraged to invest in this country. Agricultural machinery in the country If there is foreign investment for addition and training, agricultural mechanization in the country within a short period of time Skilled people will be produced to operate/repair agricultural machinery. The cost of production will be greatly reduced. however, As long as there is no foreign investment required for the addition and training of agricultural machinery in the country Import and subsidy of agricultural machinery should be continued.

On the other hand, to reduce the production cost of the country’s agricultural sector, the price of agricultural inputs needs to be reduced, esp of chemicals and pesticides. Instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, use organic fertilizers and natural methods Use of pesticides should be increased. Then the production cost will be reduced a lot. In addition to land Fertile energy will increase. Agricultural yield will be good. If the yield is not good, the farmers will not grow the crop. Still a farmer He is not getting fair price for his crops for a long time. As a result they are becoming financially weaker day by day. Which has a great impact on the overall development of the country. The level is very low, which is less than the production cost. So farmers are sure to get fair price for all their crops To do this, every crop is available directly from the farmer at a fair price as it grows Purchase in quantity. Only then will the farmer benefit. Once the season is over, it has to be marketed. Then the price will not increase. Consumers will not be harmed. Of course, this requires necessary precautions. Processing, packaging and marketing arrangements and that through government. Because these Not privately. It would have been done by now. That is, the country’s agriculture must be completely modernized Government effort. Then global competitiveness will be achieved. Food security, overall Improvement, huge employment etc. will happen and will be sustainable. On the other hand, vegetables, fish, fish products and Halal meat export should be arranged. Otherwise production will exceed demand, which is Long-term storage would be difficult and expensive. 

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