Beauty Sarkar, from Manikganj, Singair
World Food Day was celebrated recently at Nayabari village of Singair Upazila of Manikganj with the theme ‘No one will remain without food’ organized by Nayabari Farmers’ Organization and with the support from BARCIK. Assistant Agriculture Officer Kazi Ferdaus, BARCIK Program Coordinator Shimul Biswas, Program Officer Beauty Sarkar and members of Nayabari and Nayabari Ardashgram Farmers’ Organizations were present on the day.
The event included discussions, meetings, display of uncultivated plants and display of local varieties of seeds, presentation of medicinal plants and safe food and farmer-farmer seed exchange. Nayabari Farmer-Farmers Association’s Vice-President Ibrahim Mia presided over the discussion session where the farmers and participants discussed on the issue of food security and safe food production. While depicting the need to ensure safe food Nayabari Farmers Association President Iman Ali said, “If we want to make the food safe and bring the land back to its former state, we need to use organic fertilizers on the land and we need to be careful not to poison the future generations.” Assistant Agriculture Officer Kazi Ferdaus said, “Earlier, the government aimed to increase production to ensure food for all, but now it is working on safe food production.”
When describing the importance of uncultivated plants, Kamala Begum, president of Nayabari Ardashgram Farmers’ Association, said, “There are many safe foods around our house that we can conserve.” BASRCIK’s official Shimul Biswas said, “We can save seeds at home without depending on the market. He called upon everyone to make proper use of every inch of soil to become self-sufficient in food. Nature lover Ibrahim Miah said, “Proper use of land plays an important role in food security”.
At one point during the day, farmers displayed uncultivated plants and safe vegetables to grow safe food. Besides, nature lover Ibrahim Mia presented 40 types of medicinal plants and sahred about the use of these medicinal plants. Besides, 25 types of local varieties of seeds were presented to encourage everyone to save seeds.