Bangladesh eyes more agriculture agreements with Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Bangladesh has expressed interest to strengthen its partnership with the Philippines as it plans to forge more agricultural agreements.

In a statement, Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture Secretary Mohammad Sayedul Islam said he was looking forward to forging more agreements with the Philippines in other areas, particularly in pineapple and banana.

Over the weekend, the Philippines and Bangladesh strengthened their ties in agriculture technology development with the signing of an agreement between the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corp. (BADC) and SL Agritech Corp. (SLAC)  for the production of SL-8H F1 hybrid rice seeds.

Under the MOA, SLAC will guarantee timely supply of good genetically pure parental lines to be used for F1 seed production in Bangladesh, while BADC will provide production area, inputs, and facilities.

BADC will also be responsible for labor and administrative expenses, as well as production and postharvest activities.

SLAC is the biggest hybrid rice seed company in the Philippines.

The agreement was signed by SLAC chairman Henry Lim Bon Liong and BADC chairman AFM Hayatullah.

SLAC and BADC previously had a 16-year technical collaboration for the production of seeds, which started in 2005.

Lim expressed gratitude to its Bangladeshi counterparts for its full trust and confidence in the Philippine seed production company.

“It is rewarding that our collective efforts, especially in rice production will alleviate fear caused by the looming food crisis,” Lim said.

For his part, Dar lauded the Bangladesh government for having the political will to pursue programs and initiatives to attain food security.

“For years, they have allotted a significant budget for the food production sector, and have invested so much to ensure that their citizens will have enough food supply. We have to learn lessons from Bangladesh,”Dar said.

The renewed partnership under the MOA comes at an opportune time as the world faces a possible food crisis due to the ongoing pandemic and dispute between Ukraine and Russia.