Day 2
Date: 27 July 2023
Following the legacy of the first day of APRAC 2023, a plethora of activities were held in this period ranging from ‘plenary session, technical sessions, and closing session of the conference. Participants from national and international countries gathered together for the second day aiming to increase knowledge, participate, connect and collaborate for future.
Technical Session 6:
The second day of APRAC 2023 has started with the 6th Technical session on ‘Digitalization of Agriculture from the Perspective of Small-Scale Food Producers’ that was held at Committee Room of Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh on 27th July 2023 organized by Right to Food Bangladesh. Dr. F H Ansarey, Managing Director & CEO, ACI Agribusiness graced the session as the Chief Guest where Md. Amirul Islam of Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) led the event as the Chair and Moderator. Besides, Sonia Bashir Kabir, Founder & Managing Director, Venture, Dr. Mirella C Gavidia, Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA), Sultan Ahmed Biswas, Convenor, Progotishil Krishok Songram Parishad Bangladesh, Irish P. Baguilat, Coordinator, Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) were present as the panelist of the session. Professor Dr. Ranjan Saha Partha, Dept. of Anthropology, Jahangirnagar University attended at the event as the keynote speaker. The speakers of the session emphasized on the Digitalization of agriculture from the perspective of small-scale food producers.
Technical Session 7:
The 7th Technical session on ‘Participation of Youth and Women in Agriculture Value Chain’ held at Main Hall Auditorium of Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh on 27th July 2023 jointly organized by CARE Bangladesh & WAVE Foundation. Nurun Nahar, Country Director, Heifer International Bangladesh led the session as the Chair and Moderator. Md. Humayun Kabir, PhD, Professor, Department of Horticulture, Sher-E-Bangla Agricultural University attended the session as a panelist. During the session Mizanur Rahman, PhD, Senior Team Leader – JANO Project- CARE Bangladesh briefly introduced the Joint Action for Nutrition Outcome (JANO) project of CARE Bangladesh and welcome the session participants. Later, Mst. Rifatul Jannat Rinki Student, Gangachara Model School, Gangachara, Rangpur shared her experience as a representative of School Garden, Rangpur. After that, Razia Akther Mimi, Porimal Chandra Roy, students from Nilphamari, Aysha Akther, School Volunteer from Rangpur and Md. Abdul Akher Mia, Head teacher from Gangachara Model High School, Gangachara, Rangpur engaged in a panel discussion on the session. Nasefa Ali, Deputy Executive Director, WAVE Foundation attended at the event as the keynote speaker. In her presentation, she emphasized the participation of youth and women while the existing challenges are being addressed by the agriculture value chain initiative of WAVE Foundation.
The session grabbed special attention having a bunch of adolescent boys and girls as session guests and speakers. They have shared their opinion about their journey to make a school garden through the JANO initiative. The session concluded with an immense appreciation as it was dedicated to youth and women.
Technical Session- 8
The 8th Technical session on ‘Transforming agrifood system and its governance for realizing the Right to Food’ held at the Seminar Room of Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh on 27th July 2023 organized by ActionAid Bangladesh. Amit Ranjan Dey, Deputy Manager-Right to Food and Livelihood led the session as the Chair and Moderator. Besides, Anwar Farooq, Former Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Md. Saidur Rahman, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Sasmita Jena, State Representative, Welthungerhilfe India, Shazzad Hossain, Secretary, International Affairs, Jatio Krishok Jote, Jib Nath Sharma, Senior Manager, Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security & Resilient Livelihood, CARE Nepal were present as the panelists of the session. Mohammad Mahmodul Hasan, Manager – Resilience and Climate Justice, Action Aid Bangladesh attended the session as the keynote speaker. The speakers of the session focused on family farming, establishment of corporate farming, kitchen garden and the importance of the governance of transforming agrifood system. It has also shed light on the effect of climate change in agriculture.
Plenary Session 2:
The Second Plenary Session of day two at APRAC was held at the Main Hall of Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The session was one of the key segments of the two days long conference. The title of the session was “Future trajectory of Agroecology in Agrifood System and its governance”. This plenary was Chair & Moderated by Ms. Nuzhat Jabin, Country Director, Christian Aid Bangladesh. Dr. Sikander Khan Tanveer, Senior Program Specialist (Crops), SAARC Agriculture Centre, Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Karn, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Nepal, Mr. Abdul Hamid, PhD (USA), Chairman, Agrarian Research Foundation (ARF), Dhaka and Professor, Department of Agronomy, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agriculture University, Mr. Sultan Ahmed Biswas, Convenor, Progotishil Krishok Songram Parishad Bangladesh were present as the panelists of the session. While Mr. Shahanuare Shaid Shahin, Secretary General, Bangladesh Agriculture Journalist Forum and Md. Shamsuzzaman, Emergency Coordinator, Christian Aid Bangladesh presented their keynote paper. Both of them focused on the trajectory of socio economic features and food security context.
Being the second plenary and final session at the conference, this session brought a spotlight on the futuristic factors of building a sustainable agrifood system and the territorial governance of the agro-ecology. The session ended with a recommendation on synchronized agri production with a sustainable approach.
Closing Ceremony:
After the two day of the conference, the Closing Ceremony of Asia Pacific Right to Food and Agrifood System Conference was graced by Advocate Md. Qamrul Islam, MP, Chair, Standing Committee on Agriculture Ministry, and Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh who was present as the Chief Guest. The closing ceremony started with the declaration speech of Mr. Mohsin Ali, General Secretary RtF BD & Executive Director, WAVE Foundation following an accumulated declarations. He has emphasized on implementing these demands into actions. Honorable chief guest Advocate Md. Qamrul Islam, MP, has appreciated the initiative while he cited examples of Bangladesh being self-sufficient and eventually suffering from food security. Mr. Md. Ayeen Uddin, MP, Member, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food attended the event as the special guest.
Mr. Md Ruhul Amin Talukder, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Dr. Kiran Rupakhetee, Joint Secretary, National Planning Commission, Nepal, and Ms. Sasmita Jena, State Representative, Welthungerhilfe India, were the Guests of Honor. Ms. Farah Kabir, Country Director, ActionAid Bangladesh moderated the closing ceremony as the Chair. On behalf of every guest she has applauded the initiatives and thanked the organizers, participants, delegates and young people. APRAC has ended but the conversation to ensure Right to Food shall continue.
Demands:
We find that attendees from a range of expertise and farmers gave several important proposals over the course of the two-day conference. Along with our initial demands and recommendations, we are declaring a set of demands to the state.
• It’s crucial to support climate resilient and agro-ecological approaches and defend family farmers in order to protect the small and marginal farmers.
• Ensuring the legislation on the right to food for all in Bangladesh and other Asian and Pacific countries
• We want agricultural services and support (subsidy) that are justified to small and marginal farmers as well as for large farms.
• We demand that the state take the initiative to strengthen people-centered agrifood systems in order to create sustainable and equitable systems, rather than corporate-led agrifood systems.
• We call for ensuring right to food and nutrition for the most marginalized members of society after analyzing the social protection program.
• We call for accessible, affordable community-based digital technology as well as a platform in place to scale up digitalization in agriculture.
• We call for robust monitoring and assessment procedures in social protection programs to enhance accountability and transparency in the provision of services and to provide service receivers with a clear path toward graduation
• To strengthen multistakeholderism, we highly advise forming partnerships with smallholder family farmers, fishermen, CSOs, farmers’ organizations, youth, women, academia, researchers, and policymakers in order to raise the voice of small holders and other stakeholders
• It is highly recommended to provide training to the small and marginal farmers on agro-ecological tools and techniques as well as digital literacy
• We call for a separate act and regulation for the farmers/producers organization as a vehicle of operating a system to assure their participation in all stages of the agriculture value chain and fair price of their products
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to all of you for attending this conference. Also, we look forward to collaborating with you in the future to promote agro-ecology, small-scale family farming, and food sovereignty in order to realize everyone’s right to food and nutrition in Asia and the Pacific while following the principles of leaving no one behind’, Mr. Mohsin Ali, General Secretary of the Right to Food Bangladesh made the remark at the end of the conference.