Big Data is new focus for agricultural sector in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID) hosted the seminar session titled “Smart Agriculture, Smart Future” at Digital World 2017 with support from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). On the 2nd day of the mega event, speakers highlighted the importance of use of Big Data and other modern ICT solutions to foster agricultural sector in Bangladesh.

International experts shared CGIAR initiatives on use of Big Data for better crop management, planning and ensuring farmer’s benefits. Dr. Tim Krupnik, Systems Agronomist, CIMMYT and Mr. Burra Dharani Dhar, Data Scientist from CIAT shared their working experiences about remote sensing, data management and tools about to make data more available in the agriculture sector. Md. Fazle Wahid Khondaker, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Anis Ud Dowla, President, Bangladesh Seed Association, Dr. Abul Kalam Azad, Director General, BARI spoke on the occasion and Md Shahid Uddin Akbar, CEO BIID moderated the session.

An overview of ICT driven agricultural initiatives were presented in the seminar by various organizations and identified the need to adopt a comprehensive eAgriculture guideline to make the agricultural sector more competitive.

Representatives of various government agencies, development partners, private sectors, research organizations and academician attended the session.

The seminar concluded with the commitment to initiate a coordinated effort to use Big Data and other ICT services for better planning, management and service delivery across the agricultural sectors.

About Digital World

Digital World is organized by ICT Division of the Government of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and Access to Information Program (a2iProgram) of the Prime Minister’s Office of Bangladesh will be associated as implementing agencies