Thomson Reuters Foundation, Farmers fill up burlap sacks with corn from their fields. Photo: tanvir ahammed
The people of Shaniazan union, in northern Bangladesh, still remember when a river burst its banks in the early 1990s and engulfed their homes, leaving the land too sandy to grow traditional rice and tobacco crops. );
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Back then, they desperately struggled to feed their families.
Today, the collection of villages in Lalmonirhat district has a bustling marketplace, well-built homes with TVs inside and solar panels on the roofs, and thriving fields of a crop that pulled the community out of poverty: corn. Once I was landless and a rickshaw-puller, said Hasen Ali, 50, who spent more than two decades in the capital Dhaka scraping together an income before returning to his farm about five years ago.
FEATURE-Corn crop feeds prosperity in Bangladesh s flood-prone north reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bangladesh needs to amend tax rules, simplify business procedures and ensure facilities for international investors to attract foreign direct investment, said speakers yesterday. "It is crucial than ever to bring FDIs to tackle the Covid-19 fallout. For this reason, the government should relax rules and ensure competitive facilities," said Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, chairman of
Speakers for tapping FDI potentials in agro processing, light engineering, blue economy
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DHAKA, April 17, 2021 (BSS) – Speakers at a webinar today stressed the need for reforming the taxation system alongside tapping the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) potentials in a wide range of sectors like agro processing, light engineering, non-cotton apparel, home textile, blue economy and education in the country to ensure export diversification and smooth LDC graduation.
They also suggested for extending the scope for whitening undisclosed money in the health infrastructure, economic zones, and in other infrastructure sectors alongside the existing sectors to create more employment opportunities.
The participants in the webinar also opined that all the concerned stakeholders need to extend their all-out cooperation to the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) to attract more FDI in the country.
Tk 3020 crore farm mechanisation project kicks off
Representational photo: Anisur Rahman
Star Digital Report
Star Digital Report
Agriculture ministry today begins distributing subsidised agricultural machinery among farmers across the country under the biggest ever farm mechanisation project involving Tk 3,020 crore.
The machinery would make agriculture profitable by reducing farming costs and helping the farmer in timely planting and reaping the crops, Agriculture Minister Mohammad Abdur Razzaque said while formally inaugurating the distribution in a virtual meeting held at the ministry this morning.
The virtual meeting was attended by over 450 agriculture officials and farmers from across the country.
State Minister for Social Welfare Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru distributed the machines among the farmers by joining the virtual meeting from Netrokona.