Bangladesh’s new agriculture minister signals push for next-generation rice as partnership with IRRI deepens
Bangladesh’s newly appointed Agriculture Minister, His Excellency Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid, has signaled a strong push toward a more nutritious, climate-resilient rice, as he met with a delegation from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to reinforce and expand a long-standing partnership on rice research and innovation.
The IRRI delegation, led by Dr. Humnath Bhandari, IRRI Country Representative for Bangladesh, met with the Minister to discuss priorities for advancing Bangladesh’s rice-based agri-food systems. The meeting comes at a time when the country is looking to build on its achievement of rice self-sufficiency while addressing emerging challenges linked to climate change, nutrition, and sustainability.
Dr. Bhandari extended IRRI’s well-wishes to the Minister on his recent appointment and expressed the institute’s support for Bangladesh’s strong track record in agricultural development. He also highlighted IRRI’s 2025-2030 Strategy, which focuses on six integrated solutions for transforming rice agrifood systems globally and generating impacts on inclusive livelihoods, improved nutrition, and a sustainable planet. He also pointed to opportunities to further leverage the IRRI South Asia Regional Center (ISARC) to support research and capacity development in Bangladesh.
Discussions also centered on the IRRI-Bangladesh long-standing collaborations in rice research innovations, including the development of high-yielding, nutritious, and climate-resilient rice varieties; climate-smart and low-carbon rice (AWD and DSR) practices; sustainable and efficient management of natural resources (land, soil, water, and chemical); crop diversification; seed systems; mechanization; digital agriculture; rice value chain; public-private partnership in rice breeding; and capacity building of stakeholders. These innovations have significantly fostered productive, healthy, equitable, resilient, and sustainable rice agrifood systems in Bangladesh.
The Minister acknowledged IRRI’s instrumental role in helping Bangladesh increase rice production and achieve rice self-sufficiency, emphasizing its strategic importance and the need for continued collaboration to combat emerging challenges in the rice agrifood systems.
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