Fellow

Dr. MA Hamid Miah

(Fellow, 1998)

Dr. Muhammad Abdul Hamid Miah was born on 1 November 1946 at Village Jhatibari of Kalihati Upazilla under Tangail district. His father is Alhajj Akitullah Miah and mother is Mendi Begum.

Dr. Hamid Miah passed Matriculation Examination held under the then East Pakistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, from Kalihati R S High School in 1962 with 1st Division securing Letter mark in Mathematics. He obtained B.Sc, (Ag.) degree in 1967 with fifth position  in First Class and M.Sc. (Ag) degree in Entomology in 1968 securing First position in First Class, both from the then East Pakistan Agricultural University (Now Bangladesh Agricultural University) Mymensingh. He obtained Ph.D.  Degree and DIC in Entomology from Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London, United Kingdom.

Dr. Hamid Miah started his career as Scientific Officer in Radiation Genetics Institute (RAGENI) located at Atomic Energy Centre Dhaka in 1970. After his Ph.D. degree  he was posted as Senior Scientific  Officer and Head of Entomology Division  at Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (now Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture) at Mymensingh. In 1979 he joined Sugarcane Research Institute as Principal Cane Entomologist and Head of Division of Entomology, where he was promoted as Principal Cane Entomologist grade -1. In 1986 he joined Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) as Member-Director (Planning & Evaluation) and worked for 11 years and later transferred as Member-Director (Crops) at BARC. In 1997 (March), he was posted  as Director General, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute  and in December 1997 he was posted as Director General, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur. In April 2001, he was transferred to take up the position of Executive Chairman, BARC. He voluntarily retired from this position to join International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) where he served for 10 years and retired in October, 2011.

Throughout his student life in school, he enjoyed Full-free studentship for good academic record. In the University he was awarded talent scheme scholarship during graduation course and also during post graduate course in the university. Commonwealth Scholarship Commission offered him Commonwealth Scholarship.

He received "Independence Award 2013", the highest civilian award, for research and training."Gold Medal" by Bangladesh Entomological Society for notable contribution in insect pest management and scientific records; "Outstanding IRRI Alumni Award 2018" for meritorious contribution in rice science and development.

Primarily his research was on Radiation Entomology followed by pest management through several pest management components. These cover integrated pest management in sugarcane, rice, jute, pulses, vegetables, and other field crops, increasing cropping intensity, crop diversity, conservation agriculture, water  and fertilizer management, Enhancing sugarcane production, devising parasite booster (were widely used by farmer through DAE). Devised liquid pesticide applicator, initiated research on biological control of sugarcane borer for the first time in Bangladesh, designed sugarcane pest calendar, managed to identify 80 sugarcane pests and other beneficial insects, technique of augmentation of natural parasites of sugarcane borers, use of gum to control Brown plant hopper, vegetative propagation of clones of hybrid rice for saving cost of expensive hybrid rice seeds. His research-based recommendation was adopted to control Pyrilla leafhopper of sugarcane naturally, which is still followed.  He facilitated up- scaling of Leaf Color Chart developed by IRRI for appropriate use of Urea in rice field, Coordinated Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) technology of IRRI for saving water in irrigated rice system now being used by hundreds of thousands of farmers. He demonstrated the possibility of retting jute without dipping in water (on the ground) for water scarce areas, demonstrated successfully mixed cropping of Boro rice and mustard in Narayangonj, Mixed cropping of Boro rice and sugarcane, relay cropping with  Aman rice and sugarcane, crop diversification and intercropping in mulberry plantation. Provided leadership in developing and releasing first hybrid rice ever in Bangladesh (BRRI hybrid dhan -1). He first initiated the practice of rice seed production at private sector through MOU with BRAC and Syngenta, which led to development of two dozens of Seed Companies in Bangladesh. He conducted IFAD funded research to mitigate Arsenic in irrigated rice field and generated useful information to reduce arsenic load in irrigated rice field.

Dr. Hamid Miah has 50 publications in national and international journals. He authored two reference books on pest management, one chapter in an edited entomology book, written in Bangla.

He was Editor of Bangladesh Journal of Sugarcane from 1980 to 1986, Bangladesh Journal of Agriculture from 1986 to 1996, Member, Editorial Board, Bangladesh Journal of Entomology. In addition he edited and published three proceedings of national workshops on gender issues in agriculture.

He was member, Board of Regents, Institute of Post Graduate Studies in Agriculture (IPSA) , now Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University; Member, Academic Council, Rajshahi University; Member, Steering Committee, Extension Policy Implementation Coordination Committee, Ministry of Agriculture; Member, Steering Committee of two IPM projects of DAE; Member, Executive Council, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council; Member, Governing Board , SAARC Agricultural Information Centre; Member, Pesticide Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC), Ministry of Agriculture; Member Governing Board, Krishi Gobeshona Foundation; Member Governing Body, BARC. As a Team Leader, appointed by FAO, drafted the Background paper for the 7th Five Year Plan of the Government.

He was member of Bangladesh delegate to FAO Regional Conference held in Yokohama, Japan 2000; International Rice Commission  conference held in Cairo, 1998; Meetings of Technical Committees on Agriculture  (TCA), SAARC held in Bhutan, 1995  and 1996; TCDC meeting in New Delhi, India 1992; Steering  Committee meeting of IRRI supported Hybrid  rice project held in IRRI(1998), India (1998), Vietnam (1999) and Indonesia (2000); International Rice Congress in Vietnam (2010), Japan (2004) and China (2008). He has 13  international symposium presentations and ten consultancy reports.

Dr. Hamid Miah is an elected Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences; he was Secretary, Agriculture Section, Bangladesh Association for the Advancement of Science; Member and Editor, Bangladesh Society of  Sugarcane Technologist; Life Member, Bangladesh Entomological Society; President, Bangladesh  Entomological Society 1997-1998 and 2000-2001; Member, Governing Board, Asian Farming System Association  for the years  1993 and 1994.

He visited United Kingdom, United States of America, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Australia, India, Germany, Malaysia, SriLanka, Bhutan, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Italy, Nepal, Pakistan, Turkey.