Mymensingh District Council Administrator and BNP Joint Secretary General Syed Emran Saleh Prince visited a “Technology Village,” where the government has started applying agricultural tech, at Chak Najur in Mymensingh Sadar Upazila on Tuesday.

During the tour, Prince distributed saplings among students and seed-storage containers among farmers and planted a neem sapling at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Mymensingh Satellite Station office premises.

Prince also toured the cultivation fields where different varieties of rice had been planted and learned about the production process, and attended a discussion session.

Chak Najur village has been declared a “Technology Village” under the supervision of the Mymensingh Satellite Station of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI). Under the initiative, farmers in the village are being provided with various agricultural inputs, including fertilizers, seeds and pesticides, as well as technological assistance free of cost. Rice seeds are being planted using technology in the village. Such support has reduced farmers’ production costs and increased their incomes.

During Prince’s visit, the BRRI Mymensingh Satellite Station organized a program to brief participants on the overall activities of the “Technology Village”, exchange views with farmers, and distribute saplings among village students and seed-storage containers among farmers under the “One Child, One Tree” initiative.

Apart from Prince, BRRI Director General Dr Md Rafiqul Islam and Project Director Dr Md Anwar Hossain attended the event, chaired by Dr Afsana Ansari, head and sub-centre director of the BRRI Satellite Station, Mymensingh. Officials concerned, farmers and various local representatives were also present.

Joining the program, Emran Saleh Prince highly praised BRRI’s “Technology Village” initiative and expressed hope that the program would be expanded to 90,000 villages across the country.

Referring to the Farmer Card, Family Card, waiver of agricultural loans including interest, and canal excavation programmes, he said that Tarique Rahman is a farmer- and agriculture-friendly prime minister. He has taken groundbreaking steps for the development of agriculture and farmers. “Development does not mean simply constructing large infrastructure projects; the socio-economic development of marginalized communities is the real development,” he said.

Emphasizing the need to increase agricultural production through the maximum use of modern agricultural technology, he said necessary support must reach farmers at the grassroots level to reduce production costs, increase yields and make agriculture modern and technology-driven. He expressed hope that the benefits of the “Technology Village” initiative would spread more widely as farmers directly receive access to improved varieties, technologies and agricultural inputs.

Speakers said tree planting, preservation of locally suitable rice varieties and expansion of modern agricultural technologies are important for advancing environmental conservation and agricultural development in an integrated manner. Such initiatives can increase farmers’ productivity while also helping maintain environmental balance.