BD invests Tk 45,000cr in agriculture

Staff Correspondent: The Minister of Agriculture Dr Abdur Razzaqsaid that more than Tk 45,000 crores have been invested in the agriculture sector. The minister said this at the session after the inauguration of the ‘Investment Conference’ of the World Food Forum of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy on Tuesday (October 17).
He said that till July 2023 more than Tk 45 thousand crore ($4.4 billion) have been invested in the agriculture sector. Of this, the government investment is Tk 30,200 crore ($3.2 billion). The rest is from development aid agencies. In addition, recently the World Bank and IFAD partner have invested Tk 5,760 crores in the project. Still, at the moment, investment of about Tk 10,000 crore is required in the agricultural sector on a priority basis.
The minister urged developed countries, international banks, donor organizations and private entrepreneurs to come forward to invest in the agricultural sector of Bangladesh.
He said six sectors have been prioritized in Bangladesh’s investment plan. These are cold storage and post-harvest management, agricultural processing and marketing, climate smart agriculture, irrigation and water management, skilled human resource development and use of fourth industrial revolution technologies.
Agriculture Minister Dr. Abdur Razzaqsaid that Tk 20,000 crores of investment is needed in these sectors in the next few years.
He said that there is still no technology in the country to store vegetables including onion, mango and tomato, there is no cold storage. Besides, 25-40 percent of these products are wasted at the post-harvest stage. For this, an investment of around Tk 5,000 crore is needed to quickly set up 1000 multi-purpose cold storages with a capacity of 200 tons.
FAO is working to increase investment in agricultural sector transformation. For this reason, FAO organized a four-day ‘Investment Conference’ from October 17-20.
32 countries from different parts of the world participated in this conference. Those who need more foreign investment in agriculture sector. In addition, representatives of various international banks, donor organizations and private entrepreneurs including World Bank, Arab Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Latin American Development Bank are participating.