Industries Ministry Senior Secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan today said about 45 percent of country`s total workforce is involved in agriculture and their contribution to the GDP growth is around 15 percent. "Though the contribution of industry sector has increased in our economy in the recent time, the agriculture sector is still playing a vital role in the country`s GDP growth and employment generation," he said speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a five-day international workshop at a city hotel, said a press release. National Productivity Organisation (NPO) is organising in association with Japan based Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) the workshop titled "Emerging Roles of Producers` Association and Farmers` Cooperatives".The senior secretary said the government is stressing on increasing the productivity of agriculture as well as developing agro based small and medium industries in the country. "The government is providing all sorts of policy and component supports to the farmers," he added. Through Bangladesh has developed in agriculture sector, there are several challenges in agro products marketing and technology expansion, he added. He also stressed on increasing capacity of growers and farmers` cooperative societies. Additional Secretary of the Industries Ministry Sushen Chandra Das presided over the function. Among others, NPO Director and Joint Secretary SM Ashrafuzzaman and APO representative Jisoo Yun were present in the inaugural session. A total of 26 representatives from Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Bangladesh are participating in the workshop. The workshop will end on April 27.
Source : BSS