Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque has said that Bangladesh will have surplus production of fish, egg, meat and milk in the space of the next 3-5  years.

He said, "One of the main challenges of the current government is to ensure nutritious food to all.We recognise that the fisheries and livestock sector can play a vital role in that."

"We are gradually becoming self-reliant in food for the steps taken by the government in the last few years. Not only that, if we keep up the good work, we might have surplus productions of fish, milk, meat and egg in the next 3-5 years," the minister hoped.

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He came up with the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a virtual discussion meeting organized by Bangabandhu Veterinary Council on the occasion of World Veterinary Day 2021 on Saturday.

Addressing the veterinarians, the agriculture minister said the sector needs to be taken further through technology expansion and entrepreneurship. He also advised them to work hard in ensuring  nutritious and safe food for all.

Dr. Razzaque added that in order to ensure nutritious food, people's incomes must be increased and employment must be created.  Otherwise, even if enough food is produced, people will not be able to buy and enjoy it.

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The minister also emphasised on the importance of agriculture in alleviating poverty at the event.

"The government is working tirelessly to bring down the poverty rate to 12% and extremely poor to 5%......The fisheries and livestock sector can play a huge part in that," he concluded.