Bangladesh: Workshop seeks to enhance seeds cooperation with India

A workshop, Rice production in Bangladesh and collaboration between India and Bangladesh on seed issues, was held in Dhaka on 17 February 2013 as a means to review and identify priority areas to enhance collaboration between India and Bangladesh, as coordinated by IRRI.

The workshop, jointly organized by the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture and IRRI, aims to widen of the scope of the seed system to benefit various stakeholders, particularly farmers, from both countries.

Ashish Bahuguna, India's secretary of agriculture and cooperation, led the Indian delegates; Matia Chowdhury, Bangladesh minister of agriculture, and Monzur Hossain, secretary of agriculture, led delegates from Bangladesh.

V. Bruce J. Tolentino, deputy director general for communication and partnerships, represented IRRI.

In his welcome message, Dr. Tolentino cited IRRI's close working relationship with both India and Bangladesh, emphasizing the need for these two countries to work together on seed issues to benefit not just their countries but the whole of South Asia. He offered all possible help from IRRI in this endeavour, which he termed, "rice diplomacy," a phrase that became popular during the workshop.

Presenters were Abdelbagi Ismail, STRASA project coordinator; Wais Kabir, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC); and Umesh Singh, who enumerated points of collaboration between the two countries.

Anwar Faruque, additional secretary and director general of the Seed Wing of BARC, also proposed harmonization of seed laws, legislations, and protocols to make the collaboration in the seed sector more effective. 



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