Staff Reporter Mymensingh :
PHLIL-Bangladesh Virtual Annual Symposium 2021 was held at Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh on November 18, 2021 at 7:00 PM for sharing the information, results, success, limitations, experiences and possibilities to ensure the food security and to preserve the continuity of research under the Post-Harvest Loss Reduction Innovation Lab (PHLIL)-Bangladesh Phase II project.Considering the health issues, the symposium was held on online zoom platform.
In the inaugural session,Dr. Jagger Harvey, Director, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss, Professor Dr. Alex Winter-Nelson, Director, ADM Institute, UIUC, USA,and Dr. Md. Monjurul Alam, Professor, Department of farm Power & Machinery, BAU and Principal Investigator,PHLIL-Bangladesh Phase II project presented their presentations on Technologies in Post-Harvest Loss Reduction: farmers to Commercial Scale.
Professor Dr. Alam said in his presentation-policy decision for adapting hermetic bags and cocoons at public and private sector seed, grain and food storage, waiver of Taxes and Duties on import of hermetic storage bags and cocoons, inclusion of hermetic bags and cocoons in public sector (government) subsidy program and projects, clear instruction to public and private sector commercial banks for disbursing at least 15% ofagricultural credits to agricultural machinery, preferential credits from public and private sector banks to major and husking rice mills forappropriate scale dryer, and immediate recruitment of Agricultural Engineers in the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) foreffective and successful implementation of agricultural mechanization strategy of the government ofBangladesh.
As the Chief Guest in the inaugural session,Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam Khan, Curator, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur RahmanMemorial Museum, former secretary of Education &ICT and personal secretary-1 of Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh said that the technologies innovated by the project on BAU-STR dryer and hermetic storage would be very much effective and it is needed to extension to the farmers.
The Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University Prof Dr Lutful Hassan was present as the chief patron of the program.Dr. Jagger Harvey, Director, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss, Kansus State University,USAwas present as the inaugural session chair.
A panel discussion session on the symposium theme “Saving Post-Harvest Loss: A way to enhance food and nutrition security” was taken place involving distinguished panelists Dr. Robert (“Bob”) Zeigler, Chief, External Advisory Council, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss, Kansus State University,USA, Mr. Md. Manzurul Hannan, Managing Director, HORTEX Foundation, Bangladesh, Dr. M A Matin, Former Director General, RDA, Bangladesh,and Dr. Md. Monjurul Alam, Profeessor, Department of farm Power & Machinery, BAU and Principal Investigator,PHLIL-Bangladesh Phase II project. Professor Dr. Chayan Kumer Saha, Department of Farm Power and Machinery, BAUmoderated the virtual symposium.
More than three hundred people including teachers of different universities(BAU, ADMI, KSU-USA, UIUC-USA),, researchers of different research institutions, researchers and officers of Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh with affiliated institutions, students, farmers, businessmen, representatives of various international donors(FAO, IFAD, USAID Mission, JICA, HKI, IFDC, UNIDO, GIZ, iDE) and development partners participated in the symposium.
