Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh honoured individuals and institutions who served as outstanding examples in the agriculture sector of Bangladesh in recent time through the second AGROW Award. An award ceremony was organized at The Westin Hotel Dhaka. Begum Matia Chowdhury, MP, Honourable Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People’s Republic Bangladesh graced the ceremony as the Chief Guest. Dr. Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank attended the ceremony as the Special Guest.

Also present at the ceremony were Abrar A. Anwar, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh;  Ms. Bitopi Das Chowdhury, Head of Corporate Affairs, Standard Chartered Bangladesh and Mr Shariful Islam, Founder & Managing Director, Bangladesh Brand Forum.

The award, aptly named AGROW Award, honoured the industry contributors in seven categories of awards. Total 300 nominations were received this year across seven categories. The winners & honourable mentions in each category were selected through two rigorous jury sessions conducted by experts from the various agricultural and related sectors, policy makers and development agencies.

Speaking at the ceremony, Begum Matia Chowdhury, Honourable Agriculture Minister, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, said “The Agrow Award has lived up to its promise to recognize individuals and organisations for a second year. The winners & honourable mentions have played exemplary roles in our agriculture sector through hard work and innovation. We expect the Agrow Award & this year’ winners and nominees to continue their commitment and inspire the millions of farmers across the country to take the sector to the next level of food production”.

Dr. Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank said “My heartiest congratulation goes to the nominees and winners of the Standard Chartered Agrow Award 2015. I hope this award will inspire our grass-root farmers; dairy, crops & livestock distributors and marketers; and supporting research and logistics industries to enhance their commitment towards further development of this sector.”

 Abrar A. Anwar, CEO, Standard Chartered Bangladesh said “Istrongly believe that agriculture sector is an integral contributor to the sustainable development of Bangladesh. I hope through this humble attempt of ours we will be able to motivate thousands of farmers and entities linked with the sector around the country to come up with exemplary contribution in the agricultural sector and help build a sustainable agriculture sector for this country.”

   Agrow Award, which started in 2014, is an initiative of Standard Chartered Bangladesh. Standard Chartered and Bangladesh Brand Forum, the implanting partner of this event have been working together since 2014 to recognize and honour exemplary practices in the agriculture sector.

   The winner & honourable mention in each category received a crest and a certificate from the Honourable Minister for their exemplary contribution. 3 winners in Farmer of the Year categories were handed over prize money of BDT 5 lac with the honourable mentions getting BDT 50 Thousand each. The award ceremony was attended by around 300 invited guests from the agriculture sector and related organisations.

List of Winners

Best Agricultural Organization in Innovation & Research

• Lal Teer Seed Ltd.

Best Agricultural Organization in Support & Execution

• BRAC

Best Use of Technology in Agriculture

• Amar Desh Amar Gram

Best Agricultural Exporter

• Seamark Group

Farmer of the Year –Male

• Winner- MD. Billal Sikder

• Honorable Mention- Md. Abu Hanif Morol

Farmer of the Year – Female

• Winner- Fatema Zohora

• Honorable Mention- Mst. Reshma Begum

Farmer of the Year - Subsistence Market Farmer Group

• Winner- Integrated Farming Group

• Honorable Mention- Vermicompost Group