Despite the Covid-19 pandemic adversely affecting women farmers and entrepreneurs in rural agro-economies, online platforms can come to their rescue, experts said at a webinar on Monday.
They also urged the government to provide training to those women, especially for selling their produce in e-commerce platforms.
The recommendations were made at a webinar titled "Rural Women Agricultural Entrepreneurs and Covid-19: A Guide”, which was jointly organized by ActionAid Bangladesh and Market Development Foundation (MDF).
As women are lagging behind to use technology, they are facing challenges in marketing their products during the pandemic, said Prof Mohammad Jahangir Alam, of the Department of Agricultural Business and Marketing at Bangladesh Agricultural University.
“Compared to 2004, the value addition in agriculture has increased 4 to 5 times. We are producing more but are also having problems in marketing. Most of the time, women entrepreneurs do not get the actual prices as the negotiation power of women is low. Besides, financing remains a major challenge for them as well,” he further said.
Anik Asad, president of MDF and Country Director of international NGO Heks/Eper said: “Our mindset is not ready to see women as entrepreneurs. Many are discouraged to see women as entrepreneurs for social reasons. Besides, women face problems in getting loans and there are problems in accessing the market due to lack of training and infrastructural constraints.”
“The Department of Agricultural Marketing is working to create its own online marketplace where women will also be trained. Work is underway to set up farmers' markets in 64 districts of the country where farmers can market their produce directly,” said Md Yusuf, director general of the Department of Agricultural Marketing.
“Initiatives have also been taken to launch marketing postal services. Farmers Marketing Group has already been set up and work is underway to implement its pricing policy. In order to be successful, we have to coordinate with the government and non-government organizations (NGOs) through the formulation of action plans,” he added.
AK Osman Haruni, senior policy advisor at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, also emphasized overcoming the challenges for rural women entrepreneurs.
He also urged to increase the capacity of the supply system to make online marketing successful for them.
One such project, Making Market Work for Women (MMWW) has already taken steps to address product production and marketing challenges, including allocating space for women in the market, and setting up collection points.
Farah Kabir, country director, ActionAid Bangladesh, said: “Covid-19 has shown us that food security is very important and also that women agri-entrepreneurs need to be supported and encouraged.”
Through e-commerce platforms, it is a big opportunity for women to establish themselves as agricultural entrepreneurs amid the pandemic, mentioned Farzana Khan, general manager of SME Foundation.
According to the ActionAid Bangladesh, through the MMWW project, 22 women-friendly markets have been set up so far and 67 community-based collection points have been set up to deliver the products.
A survey conducted by ActionAid Bangladesh found that 85% farmers under the MMWW project were able to sell their product at a fair price during this pandemic.
