A human chain was convened in front of National Museum at Shahbag to demand for government to ensure fair price of rice and protect farmers and their livelihoods. The event was co-organized with Facebook Agriculture Group. The event attracted prominent agriculturalists and farmers, and was covered in several newspapers, radios and television channels.

Despite the unbearable heat at 11am on Friday, the Human chain was able to attract a formidable number of citizens who spontaneously gathered and expressed solidarity...

At the center of the chain were Helal Member and Juron Chacha - two farmers from Moheshwarchanda village of Jhenaidah who came all the way to Dhaka only to join hands with the movement.

An applaud to the Facebook Agriculture Group, particularly Murtaza Lodi, whose passionate engagement about the issue drove Jagoree into taking on this initiative and making this happen.

Our sincere gratitude to all who came and held hands to claim fair price of rice (at least Tk. 500 per maund), interest-free loan to
farmers to ensure they can choose to sell when they want to, fair distribution mechanism to ensure that the subsidies reach the farmers directly instead of benefiting the middlemen, government purchase directly from the farmers, subsidized pricing of agricultural inputs, development of a farmer database as an integral part of creating Digital Bangladesh, and formulation of an agricultural policy that will be based on national interests rather than donor preferences."

Special thanks to agriculture activist and adviser for the initiative Mr. Naimuzzaman Mukta, Agriculture Scientist Dr. Gul Hossain, Faculty of Jahangir Nagar University Mr. Hasan Ashraf, Mr. Zunaid Saki, and Interspeed Advertising for their guidance and support for this initiative.

The initiative has already been covered by a couple of daily newspapers (Daily Independent and Jai Jai Din), and our editorial
piece is published in Daily Star:

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=85590