A two-day long dialogue on "Climate Change and Agriculture in Bangladesh" ended on Tuesday at the conference hall of Hotel Innotel of Banani in Dhaka.
Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB) organized the dialogue intending to share knowledge and experiences of the concerned researchers, academics and institutions regarding agricultural farmers, farm labors, farm management, land quality, production system and management, interests of the farming community, and market.
Representatives of government research institutions including BARI, BRRI, representatives of IRRI, FAO, and of NGOs participated in and contributed to the dialogue. Researcher of RIB Md Saidur Rahman presented keynote on "Climate Change and Agriculture in Bangladesh: Future of our agro-ecology".
He pointed to pattern of agriculture related policies, normal features of agriculture, different dilemmas faced by agriculture and farmers, hunger and malnutrition across the world, harms of chemical driven agriculture, neoliberal policy and centralized magical solutions to agricultural problems, climate change and adaptation measures of Bangladesh, solutions or adaptation, neglected local varieties and agricultural systems, growth dependency, what we need to do, and what would be sustainable solutions.
He emphasized sustainable food production systems characterized by crop rotation, preservation and cultivation of local crop varieties, and farmers' control over seeds.
Prof Anu Mohammad said that we need to keep in mind that political economy is integral part of the questions of climate and agriculture. GDP does not say the degradation of nature and negative consequences of environment. We need our own researched based knowledge against corporate knowledge for our future.
Executive Director of Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies Dr Atiq Rahman and Prof M M Akash also spoke at the event.
Other academics, researchers, activists and agricultural practitioners shared their experiences and expressed concerns over current systems of production and future of our ecosystems. They stressed alternative practices in agriculture in harmony with our ecosystems.
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