from page b1

“In short, Bangladesh is on a slow burning platform,” said John Roome, WB’s South Asia Regional Director for Sustainable Development.

He said things need to change and there is a need to do things differently. “This is where the Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan can help.”

The CSAIP said Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), which focuses on increasing productivity, strengthening resilience and reducing emissions, offers technologies that have the potential to set the sector on a resilient growth path that would dramatically close gaps towards 2040 and diversify production and value creation.

“CSA will allow Bangladesh to maintain rice self-sufficiency and greatly increase non-rice crop production,” said the report, adding CSA will help Bangladesh expand livestock and fish production as well as make agriculture less vulnerable to climate change.

Under the $809 million investment plan to tackle the impacts of climate change, five areas have been identified for investment: agricultural innovation, gender-sensitive development of homestead production, diversification, improving production, and value chain of milk and meat.

At the event, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said the country clocked in 8.15 percent GDP growth in the last fiscal year. “We want to sustain it.”

He said the living standard of people still remains ‘awfully low’ despite peoples’ resilience and endeavour for better living.

“We have to acquire resilience with high standard of living.” Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, state minister for fisheries and livestock, said winters were felt in December in the past. Now it is not being felt that much. “It appears that negative impacts of climate change have started falling in our region,” he said.

Dandan Chen, acting country director of the WB for Bangladesh and Bhutan, said being among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, Bangladesh must take urgent actions to build on its impressive track record in the agriculture sector.

“We are encouraged to see that the government considers climate-smart agriculture a strategic priority investment in response to changing climate.”

She said Bangladesh is one of the two pilot countries that took part in CSAIPs. The investment plan will help integrate climate change in the agriculture policy agenda. Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Raisul Alam Mondal also spoke.