The Integrated Agricultural Productivity Project (IAPP), supported by the World Bank, will be a direct beneficiary project for approximately 300,000 small and marginal farmers in the country’s agro-ecologically handicapped areas.
The IAPP project aims to enhance the productivity of crops, livestock and fisheries in the flash flood and drought prone northern districts of Rangpur, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat along with the tidal surge areas in the southern districts of Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalakati, said a World Bank release.
Saline water intrusion is mostly seasonal in Bangladesh; in the winter months, the saline front begins to penetrate inland, and the affected areas face a sharp rise from 10 percent in the monsoon to over 40 percent in the dry season.
Of the 300,000 small and marginal farmers who will be benefited through the project, about 175,000 are crop farmers, 60,000 livestock farmers and 60,000 fish farmers.
Two new varieties of wheat from Bangladesh Agriculture ResearchInstitute (BARI) has already been introduced and seven more types of food grains Maize - 1, Oilseeds - 3, Pulses - 2, and Rice - 1 are in the process of being introduced.
The World Bank release said the Department of Agriculture Extension had already formed more than 1850 Livelihood Field Schools (LFSs) and had conducted more than 2,500 demonstrations on various crops.
So far, more than 9,000 farmers have adopted improved crop varieties. The Department of Fisheries (DoF) also formed more than 865 groups this year including 100 groups that were formed last year; 2,025 fish farmers received training on three different technologies (Pangas, Mono sex tilapia and Carp) and nearly 100 fishery officers received technical skills development training.
So far, the DoF has conducted more than 1,600 demonstrations, of which 378 for fish nursery. For livestock, nearly 12,500 farmers have adopted breeding/husbandry practices.
The IAPP is funded by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a multi-donor Trust Fund. Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to be awarded a grant of US$ 50 million under the Program.
The World Bank is supervising the investment project, the total cost of which is $63.81 million, with a GAFSP Grant of $46.31 million and Government contributions of $17.50 million.
The remaining $3.69 million from the GAFSP Grant is being used for a separate capacity-building component, which is being supervised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The project has been jointly implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock.