Agriculture experts have said that expanded adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) technologies can boost crop production at lower costs side by side making farm activities more profitable to ensure food security.
They were speaking at travelling seminars organized by Rangpur Hub of the USAID-funded Cereal System Initiatives for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD) project in Syedpur, Sadar and Jaldhaka upazilas of Nilphamari on Tuesday.Research Initiative Bangladesh (RIB) and Intentional Rice Research Institute (BRRI) jointly organised the daylong travelling seminars led by Director of RIB and noted agriculture expert Dr Korban Ali.The seminar was arranged as part of sharing field level experiences on expanded technologies and research trials on Aman rice cultivation among farmers, development workers, agriculture scientists and officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).Thirty participants visited the Field Specific Nutrient Management Research Spot, exhibitions of flood tolerant BRRI dhan 52 cultivation, granular urea plot, group-based cultivation of eco-friendly Aman rice, mustard farming adopting short duration Aman rice-mustard-Boro rice cropping pattern and communality level seed bank at different villages of the upazilas.Deputy Director of the DAE, Nilphamari Sirajul Islam attended the seminar as the chief guest while Regional Coordinator of RIB Matiur Rahman participated as the special guest.Matiur Rahman narrated the ongoing CSISA activities which include familiarization and dissemination of the latest technologies among farmers to increase crop yield at reduced costs through bridging public-private partnerships and GO-NGO collaboration.The experts stressed on helping the farmers in reducing production costs, increasing crop intensification and addressing the adverse
climate change impacts through adopting the latest and proven agriculture technologies.Dr Korban Ali asked for expanded adoption of the latest technologies to increase crop yield, save water, fuel, facilitate crop intensification, quality seeds, better germination, planting machine prototypes and inputs and ensure remunerative markets for the produce.The chief guest expressed satisfaction on the progress of the CSISA-BD activities in Nilphamari and said the farmers would be benefited largely in increasing the crop production at lower costs. -BSS, Rangpur
