Dhaka, – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today handed over seven mini-trucks to help smallholder farmers and support landslide work in Cox’s Bazar.

Five aggregation centres – where farmers bring their produce for processing, storage, and to meet and negotiate prices with buyers – each received a mini-truck. Another two mini-trucks were provided to assist with landslides.

Smallholder farmers often do not get a fair price for their products due to limited market access and high transportation costs. Women farmers find it particularly difficult to trade fairly.

FAO has established a network of 20 aggregation centres in Cox’s Bazar to link farmers with markets. An aggregation centre is a trading place for locally-grown produce. At the centres, farmers in the host community find a reliable space to sell their produce and thus improve their incomes – including by supplying fresh produce to the Rohingya refugee camps. The mini-trucks will help the centres collect and distribute farmers’ produce every day and will generate extra income for the centres, helping to secure their financial sustainability.

FAO Representative in Bangladesh Robert D. Simpson said: “Farmers depend on transport to get their products from fields to markets and the quicker that their produce gets there and the cheaper the cost, then the higher the profits. These mini-trucks will further strengthen the impact of our aggregation centres that are helping smallholder farmers, including many female farmers, to get higher and fairer prices.”

Around 200 women farmers sell directly to the aggregation centres and some 40 regular traders purchase products. Produce includes fruit and vegetables, rice, fish, and chicken.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands and Canada provided two trucks each and the World Food Programme provided one.
The mini-trucks were handed over in a ceremony, held in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), at Hotel Shaibal in Cox’s Bazar. Guests included Mr. Kabir Hossain, Deputy Director DAE, Cox’s Bazar; Mr. Shahjahan, District Marketing Officer; Upazila Agriculture Officers Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ramu and Teknaf; Mohammad Noor Siddique, Chairman, Islamabad Union Parishhad; Zahiduzzaman Syeed, Managing Director and Co-Founder of e Farmer Bangladesh Ltd; Bimal Chandra Sarker, CEO, Mukti Cox’s Bazar; plus aggregation centre managers and farmers. The aggregation centres that received a mini-truck are located in Cox`s Bazar Sadar, Ramu, Ukhiya, and Teknaf.

In addition, with financial support from USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, FAO handed over an additional two mini-trucks to support landslide work, one to the Forest Department, and one to the Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP).
A number of international partners have been working with FAO for a number of years to support agricultural communities in Cox’s Bazar: Canada, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States.

More about aggregation centres
The aggregation centres were established under the SAFE+2 programme. One of the programme’s three strategic aims is to build the resilience of vulnerable host communities as well as the skills of Rohingyas. The centres support host community farmers by promoting value chains and market linkages.
At each aggregation centre, a farmer leader is nominated as an aggregator who organizes for produce to be transported to a centre. Traders purchase produce in bulk. A small percentage of the price paid is kept by the aggregation centre to cover costs and for investment.

An aggregation centre is not only a physical place where a community comes to exchange goods but also represents an opportunity for FAO to build trust among stakeholders and ultimately support farmers to negotiate better prices.
This initiative is increasing income opportunities for the local population, and at the same time, improving the food and nutrition status of both host and refugee communities.

Around 200 women farmers sell directly to the aggregation centres and some 40 regular traders purchase products. Produce includes fruit and vegetables, rice, fish, and chicken.

SAFE+2
In close coordination with the Government of Bangladesh and donors, FAO, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) launched the second phase of the Safe Access to Fuel and Energy Plus (SAFE+2) UN Joint Programme in 2022.

The SAFE+2 Joint Programme targets vulnerable households to:

• Enable safe access to sufficient and cleaner cooking energy for some 190 000 refugee households.
• Rehabilitate and protect the degraded environment and ecosystems which will benefit over 167 000 refugee and host community members from the improved ecosystem and resource management in their surrounding environments.
• Increase resilience among some 50 000 refugee and 50 000 host community households.