A project to establish networking between farmers and the private sector, financial institutions and government agencies in southern and northern Bangladesh was launched on Wednesday.
The project, called PROOFS, will empower farmers with business skills and knowledge in areas such as marketing, management and finance, so that small farms can become more profitable and produce more food.
International development agencies ICCO Cooperation, iDE (International Development Enterprises) and BoP Innovation Centre will implement the 8.1m-euro project, with financial support from the Netherlands Embassy in Dhaka.
The project, expected to run for four years, will cover 80,000 farming households in seven districts: Barisal, Bhola, Patuakhali, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Rangpur.
Under the project, reputable private companies will supply farmers with agricultural inputs, such as seeds and pesticides, and ensure their availability in the local market.
The project will also provide support to extend the supply chain to the village level, which will increase the market for local enterprises.
Inaugurating the project at a city hotel on Wednesday, Dutch Ambassador Gerben de Jong said the embassy was funding the project as food security was a priority area.
“Working with existing groups, linking farmers to markets and making farmers business-oriented makes PROOFS promising,” Jong said.
Leonard Zijlstra, PROOFS project director, hoped that the project would help improve food security and prevent malnutrition, which are serious problems in Bangladesh.
The project also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Metal Seed and Ispahani at on Wednesday’s event. Under the agreement, the two private companies will provide farmers with seeds and pesticides, with information on their proper use.
Business group AFTAB inked a similar MoU with PROOFS earlier this year.
Addressing the programme, Fazle Rahim Khan, managing director of AFTAB, said the poultry sector was one of the key areas to ensure food security in the country, as it had achieved 200% growth in the last five years, creating 6m jobs.
“With these factors in mind, PROOFS and ABFL are hoping to implement syndicated semi-controlled environment farms belonging to farm business groups,” he said.
