Posted on November, 15, 2021 at 08:39 am
The multifaceted challenges that the future holds for agriculture in Bangladesh cannot be overcome without the promotion of science and technology in the sector.
This observation was made by Shahid Rashid Bhuiyan, vice-chancellor of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, in an interview to New Age on November 1.
Climate change has already affected the seasonal features in the country, causing a fall in the yields of some crops and highlighting potential risks to other major agricultural sub-sectors such as fisheries and livestock, he said.
The crises have emerged as the sector has long been struggling to sustain cultivations that have turned unprofitable over time and as foods have turned unsafe for consumption due to years of mismanagement in and neglect of the agriculture sector, he further said.
‘What is unfortunate is that the world looks unwilling to put things right,’ said Shahid, expressing his fear about carbon emission not ending soon with many countries still building coal-based industries.
‘Only the love of people cannot save this planet. The leaders of states have to love it, too,’ he added.
People of Bangladesh, especially its poor farmers, are among the primary victims of climate impacts, with frequent droughts, irregular heavy rains, cyclones and salinity affecting agricultural activities in many ways.
Weather has become so unpredictable, particularly because of excessive heat, that growing wheat is now difficult with a significant fall in its production over the past few years, said Shahid.
For instance, he explained, excessive heat affected wheat broadcasting this year, a relatively new phenomenon, while high temperatures had hit wheat harvesting in the past few years.
The fall in wheat production amid a growing demand for the crop for processed foods and animal feed caused the country’s import of wheat and feed to go up, he said.
‘The impacts of climate change are many and diverse and solution of these lies in doing research,’ said the agriculture expert.
The realisation of scientists long ago that the shortcomings of depending on the seasonality for growing crops has led to groundbreaking innovations enabling cultivation of many crops beyond their known seasons, he noted.
‘Scientists have already developed salinity-tolerant paddy. The Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture has come up with a rice variety capable of surviving under water for 15 days at any stage of its growth,’ pointed out Shahid.
The general prediction about global warming causing sea-level rise and glacier melt is that it would cause parts of Bangladesh to go under saline water.
This climate effect poses a fresh challenge to Bangladesh with its 160 million people, said Shahid, adding that global warming also means more frequent erratic rains and floods.
Bangladesh is no stranger to floods and it was blessed with about 1,000 rice varieties that could grow in deep water.
These rice varieties kept up with rising water level by any means, he said, adding that when the water level became too high these varieties would pull their roots out of the soil and float, still saving their grain from floods.
These varieties have largely been lost, though some are still cultivated in areas like Cumilla and Kishoreganj, said Shahid.
‘Bangladesh boasted some 12,000 rice varieties but only 7,000–8,000 of these are preserved at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute,’ mentioned Shahid.
Different varieties represent different characteristics attained over centuries and under different climatic conditions, he said.
Scientists could develop existing varieties into new varieties in order to adapt to changes climate change is bringing about.
‘But new varieties cannot be created without old varieties,’ he said, adding that Bangladesh must set up a ‘national plant genetic resources institute’ immediately for preserving crop varieties, among others.
‘We need a rich gene bank for adapting to climate change,’ he added.
Salinity is another climate effect putting fresh-water fish production at stake, he said, urging research to find salt-water fish species that can be farmed in salt-water ponds or ditches.
Apart from climate-change challenges, Bangladesh lacks basic agricultural imperatives such as facilities to store crops, a safe-food processing industry and a safe-food supply chain, he further observed.
The polishing of rice, which reduces the grain’s protein content, by millers is primarily caused by the lack of storage facilities as less protein content means longer shelf life, said Shahid.
He expressed a great hope in genetically modified technology as he believes that science will keep changing the world towards benefiting humans.
‘Europe, which once was highly skeptical about the GM technology, is now leaning towards it,’ he pointed out.
But increasing yield is not all about agriculture, he said, adding that agriculture extends beyond production and involves transportation, marketing and processing.
But a food supply chain without mediators is still absent in the country, he further pointed out, saying that the involvement of mediators pushes up prices of agricultural products by the distance of every mile.
He also emphasises setting up scientific laboratories to study the impacts of agricultural inputs, many of which have been used in the country for ages.
‘All possible food-contamination risks are present in Bangladesh,’ said Shahid, as he attributed the dearth of safe-food knowledge to the few safe-food graduates.
Over the years, the use of farming inputs has also affected soil health, indiscriminately killing microorganisms that help trees intake food while insects are killed mindlessly too, said the expert.
‘Insects and microorganisms are also inhabitants of the world. They, too, have the right to food and reasons to exist for they have been living on the planet longer than humans have been,’ said Shahid.
Shahid believes that the main obstacle to creating knowledge-based educational institutions in Bangladesh is largely those who run them.
‘The head of an educational institution should be an educationist or a researcher or a visionary,’ he said.
Shahid emphasised the mechanisation of agriculture in order to raise its profitability.
‘Manual labour only makes agriculture costlier. Machineries will make farming rewarding and we have to develop our own machines,’ said Shahid.
Source: New Age