Conservation farming on 10pc land can save Tk 1,200cr a year

Star Business Report

Bangladesh can get 737,000 tonnes of rice and other cereals and save over Tk 1,200 crore a year by adopting a farming system called Conservation Agriculture (CA) on 10 percent of its cultivable land, according to a recent study.

Adoption of CA, which calls for a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance, crop residue retention and diversification of plant species, will also help improve the health of soil, which is deteriorating.

“We have found very convincing reasons in over 12 years of on-farm demonstrations and recently from surveys of farmer-reported benefits from CA,” said Richard W Bell, professor of land management at Murdoch University, Australia.

He was presenting a paper on conservation agriculture and farm mechanisation at an event held at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in Dhaka.

Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF), a government sponsored agricultural research entity, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), an independent statutory authority in Australia’s Foreign Affairs, jointly organised the programme.

CA benefits farmers as it reduces the cost of production by saving labour and fuel costs as well as water for wheat.

“Some of those benefits address the labour shortages and some involve cost savings and water savings. Generally, there was increased yield and almost always increased profits,” Bell said.

For soil health, CA has been a positive influence, according to the paper. Versatile Multi-crop Planter (VMP) has been developed here under the ACIAR project to promote CA in Bangladesh.

The VMP is being used with power tiller for planting of crops. A local firm, Hoque Corporation, manufactures the VMP, according to the paper.

In another paper on cropping system intensification in the salt-affected coastal zone of Bangladesh and India, Mohammed Mainuddin of the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation Australia, said 65 percent of the area in the coastal zone is affected by various levels of salinity in the dry season.

Most of the land during dry season remains fallow for late rice harvest and prolonged water-logging, exposure of winter crops to high soil salinity and lack of quality water for irrigation during the season, he said.

Under the initiative, three areas — Amtali of coastal district Barguna, Dacope of southwest district Khulna and Gosaba of South 24 Parganas, West Bengal — were taken to test suitable cropping options, he added.

“We are experimenting with multiple crops to see which crop is more beneficial,” Mainuddin said citing the introduction of aus rice, cultivation of high-yielding and early-maturing new varieties of aman rice, and the growing of multiple crops on salinity affected land.

Due to climate change, the entire coastal region is affected with higher degree of floods, water-logging, tidal surges, droughts and salinity intrusion, said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury.

“Productivity enhancement in agriculture is a prime concern to feed the growing population. We need to explore all possible scientific opportunities to increase the productivity of major crops.”

The government has formulated the National Agricultural Policy 2018 that pays greater focus on science-led development approach.

Issues like the use of modern technology such as nanotechnology, genetically modified organism, hybrid, growing more crops with less input, conservation, and precision agriculture conserving soil health and natural resources have been given adequate attention, she said.

She stressed on enhanced collaboration between Bangladesh and Australia to widen the scope of agricultural technology development in stress-prone zones. “I would also like to emphasise the exchange of germplasm of stress-tolerant variety of different crops,” Chowdhury added.

Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah, Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Julia Niblett, former vice-chancellor of the Bangladesh Agricultural University Abdus Sattar Mandal, W Erskine of the Centre for Plant Genetics and Breeding at the University of Western Australia, BARC Executive Chairman Md Kabir Ikramul Haque and KGF Executive Director Wais Kabir also spoke.

16 firms get nod

Sohel Parvez

The government has given the approval to 16 firms to bring vessels to catch tuna and pelagic fishes beyond the 200-metre depth of the Bay of Bengal and in the international waters, said officials of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.

Of the 16, nine got the permission to catch tuna and seven for seine fishing to catch pelagic fishes beyond the 200-metre depth, said a senior official of the ministry.

Seine fishing is a method of fishing that employs a fishing net called seine that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats.

Nou Kollan Foundation Trading Company and Nou Kollan Shipping Lines, welfare enterprises of Bangladesh Navy, got permission to operate two long liners and two purse seiners to catch fish in the deep sea.

Some firms are connected to people of the ruling party Awami League, said insiders.

Ministry officials said businesses that got clearance are required to submit specification of vessels and project profile to the Department of Fisheries (DoF) within six months to bring the ships for licences.

Until now, five have submitted their specification.

“We expect that the rest of the firms will also submit their papers,” said Md Towfiqul Arif, joint secretary (blue economy) of the fisheries ministry.

Mahbubur Rahman, chief executive of Al Rafi Travel Trade, said his firm along with three others that got approval to bring purse seiner vessels to catch pelagic fishes in the deep water had submitted documents last week.

The rest of the firms are yet to submit the required documents to the ministry, although three months have passed since the permissions were granted.

Fishing in deep sea is a new area for business.

“There are prospects. We are considering going for a joint venture,” Rahman said, while declining to give further details.

Industry insiders said Bangladesh is yet to introduce long line fishing, a commercial fishing technique to catch tuna and other fish species in the deep water.

So, some local investors remain shy about proceeding fast as they do not have any idea of the stock of tuna in the deep part of the Bay and prospects of returns on investment.

“We are actually exploring. We are doing our due diligence,” said Sameer Sekandar, proprietor of Diamond Fisheries, one of the nine firms that were awarded approval for long liners.

He said those who have got permission for long liners are related to the fishing industry.

“So, we are taking time. We really want to do something great,” Sekandar said.

There is perception among some that high investment would be required. But $2-$4 million may be needed to buy a long liner, he said, adding that he will submit specification and other documents within the next 30 days.

AK Sarkar, executive director of Karnaphuli Ltd, said they are trying to form a consortium with other companies that have got permission to bring long liners for tuna fishing. AL lawmaker Saber Hossain Chowdhury is the managing director of Karnaphuli Group.

The government took the step to explore sea resources as Bangladesh got the right to fish in 118,813 square kilometres area of the sea and trawl up to 200 nautical miles into the Bay of Bengal after a verdict from an international tribunal in 2014.

The country has also become a member of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission to explore tuna at the outward boundary of its 200 nautical miles. In 2016, the fisheries ministry gave consent to four firms to do long line fishing but cancelled three of the permits in April this year for their failure to submit specification and other papers.

As per provision, the firms have to submit specifications, proforma invoice and project profile within six months of getting approval and import or build the vessels within two years of approval.

Marine catches accounted for 15 percent of total fish production at 41.34 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2016-17. Of the total marine catch, industrial trawling was 2.62 percent, according to the DoF.

 

Prefabricated steel to herald a new era

Expert says at International Seminer

 

Star Business Report

 Innovative use of prefabricated steel may help start a new era in Bangladesh’s infrastructure sector, experts said yesterday.

Local technology and product of prefabricated steel can bring a significant change in the shape of structures in the country, said Ahsanul Kabir, head of the civil engineering department of Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology.

He spoke while delivering a keynote speech at an international seminar on “Construction and innovation 2018” at the Westin Dhaka.

The event was jointly organised by Meinhardt (Thailand) Ltd, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation of Japan and McDonald Steel Building Products Ltd of Bangladesh.

It would need 25 percent less time if steel is used in place of concrete to build any structure, said Kabir.

However, there is a huge challenge for the buildings made of prefabricated steel, as possibilities are there for the steel structure to melt down and collapse in case of fire incident, he said.

Steel structure allows the project architects to clearly highlight what they want to express and show creativity, Rakesh Rahmatullah, senior design engineer of McDonald Steel Building Products Ltd, said in his presentation.

Rahmatullah said his company is renovating old steel infrastructure, including age-old railway bridges, keeping the original structure intact with local products and technology.

Besides, McDonald Steel Building is also constructing hundreds of infrastructure across the country using steel structure.

Steel structure along with modern technology helps the architects cut the time needed for designing and drawing of any infrastructure, clear representation of customers’ requirements and faster completion of a construction work, he said.

Masanobu Okamoto, a representative of Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation, said their steel sheets are used in many fields, like port and harbour structures, river revetments, retaining walls and cofferdams etc and have acquired high market acceptance globally.

He said Bangladesh has good potential in this sector.

Harold Huang, country representative of Beijing Urban Construction Group Bangladesh, said they have constructed many eye-catching projects across the world using steel structure.

Some of them are: the Bird’s Nest, the national stadium of 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic, and Ice Ribbon, the national speed skating oval of 2022 Beijing winter Olympics, he said.

Singapore Changi Airport and Marina Bay Sands are some of the big projects of Huang’s company that were constructed using steel structures with the cooperation of Yongnam Engineering & Construction Pte Ltd, Singapore, he said.

The event was moderated by Mushtaque Habib, project director at North South University.

The programme was also addressed by John Pollard, regional CEO and managing director of Meinhardt Thailand, and Matthew Silvester and Praween Chuslip, associate directors of the company.