Breaking down access barriers for Bangladeshi farmers
Improving Bangladeshi farmers’ access to markets, technical knowledge and finance is the focus of a three-year USD 2.5 million project funded through the GAFSP’s MMI.
The Centre, which supported the project’s design, is its supervising entity. The project builds on the Government of Bangladesh’s earlier GAFSP-funded, FAO-supported initiative that, among others, strengthened farmer organizations.
MMI channels GAFSP funds to farmer organizations to reach small-scale farmers more directly. Most of the organizations’ members – around 8 000 women and men – are small and marginal farmers living in remote communities.
The farmer organizations elect and pay for their own business facilitators. The project team trains these business facilitators on governance, financial literacy and management, leadership, negotiation and communication skills. The facilitators then train and support three organizations in their respective vicinities.
The project introduced RuralInvest to help the organizations prepare bankable business plans, and is assisting them in accessing technical advisory services to carry out those plans.
FAO, Sara Bangla Krishak Society and the Bangladesh Potato Exporters’ Association also organized a buyer-seller meeting for small-scale potato farmers to meet exporters for the first time, with exporters then communicating orders to the farmers. FAO trained 60 potato farmers from three cooperatives on pre-production, inspection and postharvest practices. Recently, those cooperatives sold their first consignments of high-quality potatoes to exporters.
The project is also developing the capacity of farmer organizations to help their members access financial services. Some banks are now using farmer organizations as soft collateral on loans made to members. Thanks to high repayment rates during the first round, the banks are adding more farmer organizations.
The project boasts a strong participatory M&E system, using Collect Mobile to assess farmer organizations’ performance every six months. The idea is to create sustainable organizations that can help their members tap into financial services, technical knowledge and profitable markets.