The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today called for stronger government leadership to translate growing knowledge and evidence on agricultural methane reduction into policies, programmes and investments for climate-resilient, low-emission agriculture in Bangladesh, a press release said.

The call came at the Policy Dialogue: Accelerating Methane Reduction for Climate Resilience and Low-Emission Agriculture in Bangladesh, organized by IFAD at Amari Dhaka. The event brought together government representatives, researchers, development partners, international financial institutions, civil society, private-sector actors, and farmers representatives to examine how evidence and technologies can inform national agricultural planning, investment and implementation.

Mostafa Kamal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Chief Guest of the event, emphasized the importance of knowledge in strengthening future agricultural interventions.

“IFAD is our trusted, long-standing partner. Beyond its investments, IFAD brings a global and tested knowledge base in agriculture and agroecology. We need to draw on this knowledge and translate it into interventions that provide a solid foundation for the development of our country,” he said.

He also emphasized the interconnectedness of land, life and livelihoods, and the need for agricultural interventions to respect ecological balance while responding to farmers’ realities.

Valantine Achancho, IFAD Country Director for Bangladesh, stressed the need to move beyond isolated initiatives.

“Government must lead, partners must coordinate around that leadership. Our collective objective should be one coherent national pathway, not a collection of disconnected pilots,” he said.

“The evidence is growing. The technologies are increasingly available. The partners are present. What is needed now is alignment, policy commitment and investment on a scale under the leadership of the Government,” he added.

The dialogue examined approaches including alternate wetting and drying, urea deep placement, smart irrigation, digital agriculture, livestock methane reduction, climate finance, carbon markets and credible measurement, reporting and verification systems. Technical discussions highlighted the importance of linking field evidence with policy, farmer incentives, extension systems and investment.

A panel bringing together the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Department of Environment, the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh Agricultural University and the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute explored development-partner coordination, Nationally Determined Contribution implementation, frontline extension needs, emissions measurement and verification, and the relationship between methane reduction and food security.

Participants also joined four thematic breakout sessions on methane-reduction technologies, climate finance and carbon markets, digital agriculture and IoT-enabled irrigation, and extension models for climate-smart agriculture.

The dialogue builds on IFAD’s Reducing Agricultural Methane Programme (RAMP), which has supported technical capacity development, applied research, policy engagement and field demonstrations in Bangladesh. As this phase concludes, IFAD emphasized the need for actionable recommendations, a government-led roadmap, stronger delivery systems, credible systems for measuring and verifying emission reductions, investment pathways and improved coordination among institutions.