Staff correspondent :

Agriculture Minister and Awami League presidium member Dr. Md. Abdur Razzak said that more than 45 thousand crore rupees (4.4 billion dollars) have been invested in the agricultural sector so far. About 10 thousand crore rupees investment is required on priority basis. The minister urged developed countries, international banks, donor organizations and private entrepreneurs to invest in the agricultural sector of Bangladesh.
He spoke at the opening ceremony and subsequent session of the ‘Investment Conference’ of the World Food Forum of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy on Tuesday.
The minister said that out of the 45 thousand crore investment, the government investment is 30 thousand 200 crore taka (3.2 billion dollars), the rest is from development cooperatives. In addition, recently the World Bank and IFAD partner have invested 5 thousand 760 crores in the project. He said that the National Agricultural Policy 2018 is being implemented to sustain the agricultural production of Bangladesh and to transform the agricultural sector. 
FAO Director General Qiu Dongyu, Chief Economist Torero Cullen and representatives of various international banks, donor organizations and private entrepreneurs spoke at the event. Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Ruhul Amin Talukdar, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council Executive Chairman Sheikh Md. Bakhtiar, the ambassador of Bangladesh appointed in Rome. Monirul Islam, Economic Councilor Md Al Amin was present.
Later, the minister highlighted the investment plans, requirements and potential in the country’s agriculture sector in the scheduled session of Bangladesh on investment presentation in agriculture. The minister said that in the investment plan of Bangladesh, the establishment of cold storage and post-collection management, agricultural processing and marketing, climate smart agriculture, irrigation and water management, creation of skilled human resources and the use of technology of the 4th industrial revolution have been prioritized. 20,000 crore investment is needed in these sectors in the next few years.
Highlighting the details of investment infrastructure and government facilities in Bangladesh, the minister said that there is a fair environment for investment in the country. Agriculture sector is very promising and profitable for investment in agriculture in Bangladesh. The minister sought quick investment in setting up cold storage, post-harvest management, processing and marketing for these products, especially potatoes, onions, mangoes, jackfruit, pineapples and tomatoes. He said, there is still no technology to store vegetables including onions, mangoes and tomatoes in the country, there is no cold storage. Besides, 25 to 40 percent of these products are wasted at the post-harvest stage. That is why an investment of around 5000 crore rupees is needed to quickly set up 1100 multipurpose cold storages with a capacity of 200 metric tons.
It should be noted that FAO is working to increase investment in the transformation of the agricultural sector. For this, FAO has organized a four-day ‘Investment Conference’ from October 17-20. 32 countries from different parts of the world are participating in this conference, which need more foreign investment in the agricultural sector. In addition, representatives of various international banks, donor organizations and private entrepreneurs including World Bank, Arab Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Latin American Development Bank are participating.