Planning Minister of Bangladesh and the chief guest, Muhammad Abdul Mannan said, “There was once a scarcity of food in Bangladesh, but not anymore, due to our agriculture. We must be vigilant in all possible agricultural cases” at the launch of the book ‘From the Ground Up: BRAC’s innovations in the development of agriculture in Bangladesh and Beyond’ at BRAC Centre Inn today.
The book is published by University Press Limited (UPL). It has been edited by Mushtaque Chowdhury, Muazzam Husain, Md A Saleque and Hugh Brammer. Chapters are written by Dr Jiban Krishna Biswas, Professor S D Chowdhury, Dr A K Fazlul Haque Bhuiyan, and Professor Md Saifuddin Shah. Mushtaque Chowdhury said “This book journals the significant contributions of BRAC in agriculture for the past 40 years.”
The special guests were National Emeritus Scientist and the former chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Dr Kazi M Badruddoza, the senior secretary of the planning commission Dr Shamsul Alam, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Md Nasiruzzaman, the advisor to former caretaker government and former secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture AMM Shawkat Ali and the director and founder of Channel I Shykh Seraj. Asif Saleh, the executive director of BRAC, opened the event with his remarks. “BRAC first brought the Amrapali mango to Bangladesh. Even small contributions lead to big results that is unknown to most people. The book highlights such contributions.”
BRAC chairperson Hossain Zillur Rahman, who chaired the event, remarked, “With Sir Fazle Hasan Abed’s guidance, there have been a lot of innovations in agriculture. Agriculture is not just a proud history for us, but also holds the key to a bright future.” Agricultural development was one of BRAC’s early interventions, which resulted in a direct impact on food security and poverty reduction in the country’s most vulnerable areas.
