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National commission to fix prices of farm produce

Staff Correspondent
The government will constitute a national price commission to fix prices of agricultural products for protecting interests of the country's farmers. Food Minister Abdur Razzaque said yesterday.
"The marketing system of agricultural products is very weak in our country. This will be reorganised. A national commission comprised of agronomists and others concerned will be formed to ensure farmers' interests." he said while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar at Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council auditorium.
Bangladesh Agronomists Association organised the seminar titled “What type of budget we want for food security?”
Referring to the agriculture commission of India, he sought suggestions of the agronomists to improve the existing marketing system of
SEE PAGE 7 COL 6 FROM PAGE 16 agricultural products in Bangladesh.
He gave assurance of increasing allocation in agriculture and food security sectors in the upcoming budget and said the developed countries highly subsidise the agriculture sector but advise others to reduce subsidies.
He urged the agronomists to play an active role in dis-seminating information among the farmers about the cost benefit of their production. The country could be self-sufficient in food through commercialisation of agriculture, he said.
Dr Razzaque, who is an agriculturist by profession, told the seminar that there are a lot of achievements in producing food grains, but not in producing agricultural products as a whole.
For example, he said, Bangladesh has to import edible oil of around Tk 5,000 crore but this import cost could be reduced greatly by
producing mustard seeds.
He said many researches are being conducted for promoting environmentfriendly products but no mentionable initiative has been taken yet in the country in this regard.
"We can use jute sacks instead of plastics to increase jute production and help jute industries,” Razzaque said.
Head of Research of Centre for Policy Dialogue Dr Uttam Deb and Bangladesh Agronomists' Association president Dr Abdus Sattar Mondal in their keynote paper recommended special allocation of Tk 100 crore in the coming budget for distribution of standard seeds among farmers.
Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Agriculture Shawkat Momen Shahjahan. its member Abdul Mannan and Bangladesh Agronomists' Association vice president Mizanur Rahman and secretary general AMH Monirul Haque Naqvi also spoke.