FAOR Bangladesh joined the filming of has sponsored “Farmer’s Voice in the Budget” a special edition of the agricultural TV show titled “Hridoye Mati O Manush (Soil and People in the Heart)”, a forum for pre-budget dialogue between farmers and high-level policymakers, held in Fultala upazila, Khulna on Thursday, 23 April 2015.

“Farmer’s voice in the Budget”, presented by Mr Shykh Seraj, Director of News, Channel i, has been running for a number of years, and provides an opportunity to air the general concerns of the farmers.  On this occasion, attended by Mr. Narayan Chandra Chanda, State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock, FAOR, and the local Deputy Director DAE, primary areas of general concern were access to credit from rural finance, and the extra (unauthorized) charges made by local bank officials for arranging finance.  The need to strengthen the departments of extension was also mentioned, given the extent of need and shortage of manpower and resources to run programmes.  Some farmers complained bitterly about the waste of fruit, particularly mango, destroyed based on inaccurate testing of contamination levels (using inappropriate equipment).  Questions were also raised about the use of vermicompost as a means of enhancing soil fertility.  Regarding questions about fair prices,  Mr Robson mentioned planning work currently underway on school meal provision linked to procurement of local produce. “These kinds of participatory TV shows can be an example to other countries around the world – I will certainly have draw the attention of my colleagues in other representations to this interesting exercise”, he concluded.

Mr. Seraj praised FAO’s outstanding work in collaborating with the government to strengthen agriculture and food security of Bangladesh. He thanked FAOR for his contribution and lively participation throughout the programme.