On December 18, 2016, the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture organized a seminar for IFPRI to present the changing scenario of Bangladesh agriculture. IFPRI Country Representative in Bangladesh Dr. Akhter Ahmed situated Bangladesh's agricultural progress in an historical context using various years of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data. Then, using comparing two rounds of IFPRI's Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS), Ahmed presented more recent agricultural advancements, with an emphasis on changes in farm mechanization and irrigation, the seed sector, crop patterns, and farmers' profitability from agricultural production. Using IFPRI's research-based evidence, IFPRI and the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to work closely to devise appropriate research-based policy interventions.
The session was chaired by Mr. Muhammad Moinuddin Abdullah, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Ms. Matia Chowdhury, Minister of Agriculture was the Chief Guest. The event was widely attended by USAID and high-level government officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Ministry of Water Resources, and related government agencies.