Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Improved agricultural productivity is part of a broader agenda of the government of Bangladesh to raise farm income, reduce poverty and make the agricultural sector of the country more globally competitive.
The Integrated Agricultural Productivity Project (IAPP) is aimed at enhancing the productivity of agriculture covering crops, livestock and fisheries in pilot areas. This includes Rangpur, Kurigram, Nilfamari, and Lalmonirhat districts in the flash-flood and drought-prone areas in the North and Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalokhati districts in the salt-affected tidal surge areas in the South.
The IAPP is funded by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), which is a multi-donor Trust Fund. Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to be awarded a grant of US$ 50 million for the project.
The World Bank is supervising the investment project of $ 63.81million, funded by GAFSP grant ($46.31 million) and the government contribution ($17.50 million).
The remaining US$ 3.69 million from the GAFSP grant will be used for a separate capacity building component, which will be supervised by the FAO, a World Bank project update said on Tuesday.
The project was launched on November 29 last by Begum Matia Chowdhury, Minister of Agriculture. Abdul Latif Biswas, Minster of Fisheries and Livestock, and representatives from various government ministries and departments, donors and civil society organizations also attended the launch.
The different implementing agencies have already initiated some of the project activities. The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has organized 315 demonstrations in the North and 217 in the South. Each demonstration is organized around a farmer group, and covers a variety of crops including rice, wheat, mustard seed, sesame, lentil, mung bean and oilseeds.
The Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) has distributed, through DAE, nearly 13.5 tons of foundation seeds to farmers. It has also begun taking steps to produce 25 tons of foundation seeds which will be needed next year. The Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute has started 62 trials in wheat, 56 trials in maize, 16 trials in mustard and 26 trials in cow-pea.
The project is being jointly implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. It is expected that the project will benefit about 175,000 crop farmers, 60,000 livestock farmers and 60,000 fish farmers in the selected project districts.
BBN/SSR/AD-17Jan12-11:22 am (BST)
