About the society

Weeds compete with crops for light, water and nutrients, and cause enormous losses to agriculture, the environment, livestock and human health. Managing them scientifically is a major issue for Bangladesh. It calls for adequate education, regulatory direction, professional improvement and environmental awareness — and for cooperation between weed scientists, policymakers and administrators.

How the society began

The initiative to form the Weed Science Society of Bangladesh was taken by Prof. Dr. S. M. Rezaul Karim of the Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, on 22 February 2008, at a meeting of the Bangladesh Agronomy Society held at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council in Dhaka. He focused on the importance of such a society at both national and international levels.

Prof. Karim had been attending the Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society (APWSS) conferences as Country Representative since 1997, where it became clear that without a national weed science society approved by the APWSS, the country representative could not hold voting power in APWSS elections. With the assistance and cooperation of others, he arranged the first meeting of ten distinguished agronomists at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, on 9 August 2008. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Md. Hazrat Ali, Professor of Agronomy at SAU. After a long discussion on the importance and possibility of the society, an ad-hoc committee of ten members was formed, with Prof. Hazrat Ali as Convener and Prof. Karim as Member-Secretary.

Goals and objectives

The overall objective of the society is to enhance agricultural productivity and food security through economically feasible, socially acceptable and environmentally friendly weed management strategies. This is pursued through six specific objectives.

1. i

   Provide a forum for weed scientists to exchange ideas with their fellow scientists.

2. ii

   Recommend policies to the government regarding the consequences and impact of noxious weeds on agriculture.

3. iii

   Maintain liaison with international societies related to weed science.

4. iv

   Boost agricultural production through the coordinated efforts of weed scientists by publishing a weed science journal, monographs, books, bulletins and fact sheets.

5. v

   Identify outstanding workers in the area of weed science and recognise their service by presenting awards and conferring honours.

6. vi

   Recommend a uniform curriculum on weed science to the University Grants Commission and the textbook board, and suggest amendments to course curricula in the light of new findings in weed science.

The society today

Since its establishment the society has grown to more than a thousand members, including 163 life members, drawn from the agricultural universities, the national research institutes — BARI, BRRI, BINA, BWMRI, BJRI and BSRI — and from the private sector. It has organised nine conventions, symposia, workshops and international conferences, and publishes the Bangladesh Journal of Weed Science twice a year.

Presidents and General Secretaries