Collaboration among Asia-Pacific countries needed to ensure food security: PM

Online Desk

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today emphasised enhancing collaboration among the Asia-Pacific countries in agricultural research and education for ensuring food security alongside transferring and sharing of cutting-edge technologies.

The premier said this in her recommendations placed at the opening ceremony of FAO 36th Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific.

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel.

She said transfer and sharing of technologies like biotechnology, nanotechnology, and robotics in agricultural sector need to be strengthened among FAO member states in the region.

“As modern agriculture needs huge investment, a special fund could be created to finance and support the agri-sector.”

Bangladesh, for the first time, is hosting the regional virtual-hybrid event. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined it remotely from her place of residence in UAE.

She said the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the agricultural sector like other sectors. At the initial stage of the pandemic in 2020, the supply chain was disrupted – affecting both the producers and consumers, she said.

“However, our timely and effective interventions helped the sector recover fast. We took special measures, including mechanisation, to ensure unhindered food production and supply of agricultural inputs,” she added.

Sheikh Hasina continued that the Covid-19 pandemic revealed how vulnerable human beings are in the face of such disaster, and it has also demonstrated how the human race, by acting together, can face such challenges.

She went on saying, “Food security is surely the most pressing issue for the humanity. About 305.7 million people in South Asia still suffer from hunger. We can arrange food for them easily if we all make sincere effort.”