agricultural – Ubinig

6Apr

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Development

Farmers feed people

Farida Akhter || Tuesday 06 April 2021 || READ BY SUBJECT: Development Farida Akhter THE report on the State of Food and Agriculture: Innovation in Family Farming (2014) by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation estimates that 500 million small family farms, owning less than a hectare of land, are the source of more than 80 per cent of the world’s food supply. In Bangladesh small farm holdings (less than 3 acres) constitute 84 per cent of total farming households; medium farms 14 per cent and large farms (over 7.50 acres) are only 9 per cent, keeping to a 2015 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics report. Reliable vital statistics are notoriously lacking in Bangladesh making a reasonable assessment of the state of agriculture difficult. There are limitations of assessing the state...

9May

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COVID-19: UBINIG Report Series

1. Covid-19 Bangladesh: UBINIG REPORT SERIES 1: Farming community & Agriculture

UBINIG A gradual reduction in the contribution of agriculture sector to the GDP has been visible since 1990, when agriculture contributed 38% of the national GDP, in 2018 it stooped to a meager 13.7%. This is due to continuous lack of attention and proper planning by the government, which often takes decisions that proves to be detrimental for the greater interest of agriculture as a sector and those of farmers as productive population. Bangladesh is a country of small farm holdings (less than 3 acres), constituting 84% of total farming households; medium farms 14% and large farms (over 7.50 acres) are only 9% (GOB, 2015). Despite its decreasing importance in the GDP, agriculture provides over 40% of employment. Bangladesh Government first announced detection of COVID-19 infecti...

19Dec

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Stories of Nayakrishi Farmers

Nayakrishi is the key to peaceful life of Sakhina Khatun

Nayakrishi Andolon Shakhina Khatun (42), wife of Abul Kahsem, Purba baro veula, Cox’sbazar is a landless farmer. She has a homestead area of 10 decimals and shared in land 60 decimals. She has a dwelling house and a cattle shed. She has a bullock and a cow shared in. She also has five ducks and 18 chickens. There are varieties of trees in the homestead area including mango, jackfruit, blackberry, amlocki, pomelo, dewa, banana, areca nut, coconut, mahogany, teak, sesbania, sisso, banyan tree, guava, star fruit. Medicinal plants occur in abundance including catagola, tiatui, bondherosh, pripata, bashak, hobupata. The main source of income of Shakhina Khatun is farming. She works in the farm. Her husband and sons work in the farm. They work as wage labor in other’s farms. They a...

Impacts of Tobacco Cultivation on Agricultural Production in Bangladesh

17Nov

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Tobacco

Impacts of Tobacco Cultivation on Agricultural Production in Bangladesh

UBINIG || Tuesday 17 November 2015 TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN BANGLADESH Tobacco has been introduced since mid sixties of the last century into the fields where food crops were grown, and more widely after liberation in 1971 by the British American Tobacco Company in Teesta silt in Rangpur area (Sarkar and Haque, 2001) 1. Tobacco production has mainly been pushed by big multinational companies such as British American Tobacco Company through contact growers (Sarkar and Haque, 2001). According to the official Agricultural Statistics (2010)2 three varieties of tobacco ‐‐ Jati, Motihari and Virginia ‐‐ are grown in different districts of Bangladesh. Jati and Motihari are mostly grown in Rangpur and Bandarban, while Virginia is mostly grown in Kushtia, Rangpur, Jessore and Dhaka. Ot...

12Nov

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Events/News

FAO honoured Nayakrishi Farmer

Ubinig and Nayakrishi Andolon FAO Bangladesh sent one woman farmer Ms Rina Begum to FAO Regional office, Thailand on the occasion of the world food day 2015. She is a Nayakrishi farmer from the Delduar Upazilla of Tangail district. Rina Begum was chosen by the Ministry of Agriculture as one of the best farmer. Nayakrishi is the practice of biodiversity-based ecological agriculture following 10 simple rules. Because of the ecosystemic approach to agriculture and the use of good and healthy seed maintained and conserved by experienced farmers, pesticide is not required. As a principle Nayakrishi farmers use no biocides. As soil production from the on-farm composting is a regular practice, there is hardly any need for chemical fertiliser. Nayakrishi does not use ground wa...

Bt. Brinjal: Forced cultivation and poor performance!

16Mar

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Bt. Brinjal: Forced cultivation and poor performance!

UBINIG Bangladesh is one of the unfortunate countries in Asia, where GM food crops are being forced for introduction without properly following the precautionery principle to protect biological environment and health and proper rules as laid down by international obligations and domestic bindings, particularly related to Biosafety. Genetically modified Bt. Brinjal is one such crop which is a very common vegetable across class, culture and geographical location, and also known to be in the centre of origin, yet the government has approved it for field cultivation in October, 2013 through the national gene bank run by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI). Despite concerns raised by various farmers groups and environmental groups, the first trial of Bt. Brinjal started in...

Farmers are cheated in Bt Brinjal ‘field cultivation’: A failed attempt at the cost of risks to human health and environment

9Apr

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Btbrinjal & Corporate Politics

Farmers are cheated in Bt Brinjal ‘field cultivation’: A failed attempt at the cost of risks to human health and environment

Farida Akhter On 22nd January, 2014 twenty farmers from four districts were given the saplings of Bt Brinjal in ceremony organized by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC). The Agricultural Minister Matia Chowdhury gave out the trays of saplings along with a booklet. The farmers selected by BARI were happy because they thought they were fortunate ones to be chosen for such a ceremonial distribution of saplings. Matia said while addressing as the chief guest, “We have decided to start cultivating Bt brinjal after different necessary tests at home and abroad. We took long time to experiment all pros and cons for introducing the cultivation of this variety. There is no alternative to accept the reality of the GM crops...

6Jun

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Development

RIO+20: Detoxicating Agriculture

UBINIG Future of farming in Bangladesh depends on the capacity of the government to insist on the priority of detoxicating agriculture and stop further erosion of agroecology and environment. Rio plus twenty means a decision about our future. Somehow the declaration of the Heads of States and Governments, knick-named as Zero Draft, has the title “The Future We Want”. But whose future? The governments do not seem to be willing to address the various crises, created by the systemic failure of global economic order resulting in increased poverty, hunger and unavailability of food. There are often fatal spill-overs from the environmental and climate crisis, the resource depletion or the financial meltdown and economic collapse. The world is not shining as it was a decade ago. Amid ...

13Jun

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Development

Peoples Perspectives

UBINIG Dreaming & Mumbling with Numbers Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith made a Power Point presentation of the National Budget for 2010-11 fiscal year in the parliament on June 10, to spend Tk 1,32,170 crore or US$ 19 billion, with a target of 6.7 % GDP growth as against 5.5 percent for the current year. The proposed Budget will have a deficit Tk. 39,323 crore or 5% of proposed GDP. The prevailing mainstream responses to the budget miserably reflect the poverty of thought on macro-economic policy and the role of such yearly financial tool to set a dynamic direction for the economy to recover from the assault of neo-liberal economic policies. Only substantive critique so far one could hear even from prestigious think tanks is that the budget is big and ambitious, but ...