Recent meetings in Bangladesh about collaboration for improved food security focused on two new CGIAR mega programs for maize and wheat. Global Maize Program director BM Prasanna and Global Conservation Agriculture director Pat Wall met with scientists at the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) and members of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in late May, and received positive feedback on partners’ desire to help implement these programs in Bangladesh.
After talking with CIMMYT representatives, Wais Kabir, BARC’s executive chairman, expressed his satisfaction about the comprehensive nature of the two megaprograms and thanked CIMMYT for the long-term functional partnership with BARI under BARC in various research projects in Bangladesh. He said that BARC would like to be a key partner in the maize and wheat mega programs. Other consulted organizations in Bangladesh included the International Rice Research Institute, WorldFish, and USAID.
