UNB, Dhaka :
Water experts at a workshop here on Monday stressed the need for the judicious use of water in agriculture as
its scarcity is growing in South Asia.
They said, farmers should be economic in using water and try to grow more crops with less water considering its emerging challenges.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) organised the regional workshop titled ‘Innovations for More Food with Less Water (MFLS)’ at Brac Centre Inn in the capital.
Chaired by BWDB additional director general Abdur Rob Miah, the workshop was addressed, among others, by additional secretary of Water Recourses Ministry ALM Abdur Rahman, principal secretary (Water Resources) of Madhya Pradesh (India) Shri Radheshyam Julaniya, ADB water resources specialist Lance Gore, MFLW team leader Adrian Young and BWDB chief monitoring Masud Ahmed.
Abdur Rahman said, water in Bangladesh comes from outside its borders as it has 57 trans-boundary rivers, including 54 with India.
He said, Bangladesh is facing water scarcity for lack of adequate flow in the rivers and climate change impacts. “We’ll have to find out how to use water effectively and how to produce more crops with less water,” Abdur Rahman said.
Indian principal secretary Shri Radheshyam Julaniya stressed ensuring good governance in water sector saying, “Even without adequate investment in water sector of Madhya Pradesh, our water efficiency is going to be sustainable due to improvement of governance).”
ADB water resources specialist Lance Gore said the regional bank is committed to investing US$ 2 billion in agriculture of the Asia Pacific region.
The ADB is financing a ‘Research and Development Technical Assistance (RDTA) called Innovations for More Food with Less Water’ to support the identification, assessment and design of innovations for more sustainable irrigated agriculture in Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
Participants from Bangladesh, India and Nepal joined the daylong workshop.
