13 get Agriculturally Important Person status

The government has honoured 13 successful farmers with "Agriculturally Important Person (AIP)" status for the first time for their outstanding contribution to agriculture in Bangladesh.

Professor Lutful Hasan of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) was awarded AIP status for developing BAU Ddhan-3, a high-yielding paddy variety, and salt tolerant mustard varieties BAU Sarisha-1, BAU Sarisha-2, and BAU Sarisha-3.

Ataus Sopan Malik, managing director of AR Malik Seeds Pvt Ltd, Dinajpur, received AIP status for developing and marketing 10 vegetables (pepper, brinjal, cucumber, gourd, snake guard, pumpkin, sponge gourd, sweet pumpkin, and two varieties of seed potatoes).

Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque and Habibun Nahar, Deputy Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, presented the awards to the AIPs at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital on Wednesday.

Those awarded include Syed Abdul Matin of Bagerhat, owner of Future Organic Farm, for producing oil, khoil and organic fertiliser from mahogany fruit seeds, Alimus Sadat Chowdhury, owner of Alim Industries Limited, Sylhet, for developing a power tiller, Salim Reza, the owner of Dristanta Agro Farm and Nursery, Natore, for setting up a commercial agricultural farm and agro processing industry.

Mehdi Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury of Thakurgaon received the AIP honour for playing a brilliant role in agriculture by setting up agro farms on a commercial basis and earning foreign exchange, and Mahfuzur Rahman, owner of Esha Integrated Agriculture Farm in Jhalakathi, for setting up fruit orchards and nursery, and establishing the largest Vietnamese dwarf coconut orchard in Bangladesh.

The AIP award went to Badrul Haider Bepari of Pirojpur for the production and expansion of earthworm fertiliser, to Shahbaz Hossain Khan of Patuakhali for success in fruit, vegetable, animal husbandry and fish production, to Shamchuddin Kalu of Cumilla for using scientific methods in fish farming and integrated production of spawn using modern technology.

Jahangir Alam Shah of Naogaon was honoured with the AIP status for setting up an agricultural information library and museum, Nurunnahar Begum of Pabna for setting up a multi-purpose agricultural farm, and Shahjahan Ali Badshah of Pabna for setting up a commercial agriculture model farm on 70 acres of land, respectively.

AIP card holders will get various benefits like Commercially Important Persons (CIP) status holders for one year.

Nurunnahar Begum of Ishwardi, Pabna said, "I started farming 30 years ago with an investment of Tk2,000. Now I produce rice, brinjal, carrot, potato, gourd, beans, cauliflower, tomato, papaya, broccoli, red cabbage and more, on 32 hectares of land. A total of 3,253 men and women are employed on my farm."

"In fiscal 2018-19, I invested about Tk2.50 crore in my farm and earned a profit of more than 90 lakhs. If this continues, the income of my farm will double," she said.

Another successful farmer, Samchuddin Kalu of Cumilla said, "I set up a fish breeding hatchery in 1990. Gradually I added all the scientific technologies to this fish farm. In FY19, the farm produced 628 tonnes of fish, from which I earned Tk2.28 crore."

As per AIP policy, a maximum of 45 people in five categories will be granted AIP status every year.