HarvestPlus Signs Agreement with Bangladesh Agro Company PRAN
PRAN Agro Business Chief Operating Officer Limited Mahatab Uddin and HarvestPlus Director (Research and Development) Wolfgang Pfeiffer exchange documents after signing an agreement on Wednesday at PRAN-RFL Center in Dhaka.
PRAN has signed an agreement with HarvestPlus, a program of Consultative Group in International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), to market nutritious high zinc rice which can provide up to 60 percent of daily zinc needs to the consumers.
"In Bangladesh around 36 percent children under the age of five and 57 percent women are suffering from zinc deficiency, 44 percent adolescent girls are becoming stunted for their age," says Wolfgang Pfeiffer, Director of Research and Development of HarvestPlus.
"HarvestPlus is working with the farmers of 62 districts to produce high zinc rice. PRAN will purchase the grain directly from the zinc rice growers of northern area of Bangladesh," says Eleash Mridha, Managing Director of PRAN Group. Mahatab Uddin, Chief Operating Officer of PRAN Agro Business Limited and Wolfgang Pfeiffer of HarvestPlus signed the deal on behalf of their respective organisations on Wednesday at PRAN-RFL Center in Dhaka. Khairul Bashar, Country Manager of HarvestPlus Bangladesh was also present.