Status of research-extension linkages in Bangladesh

Agriculture accounts for 20 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Bangladesh, with fisheries and livestock contributing another 3.7 and 4 per cent, respectively, to national income. “Agricultural growth has helped bring down the incidence of poverty in the country from more than 80 per cent in the 1970s to 31.5 per cent in 2010,” stated Dr. Wais Kabir, Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Centre (BARC) in today’s presentation on ‘Status of Research-Extension Linkages in Bangladesh’. 

The main agricultural produce in Bangladesh include rice, jute, maize potato, fruits, vegetables, pulses and spices. The country is made up of nearly 80 per cent plain alluvial land and 8 per cent hill terrain, with a very high cropping intensity of about 191 per cent in 8 million hectares.

The government ministries responsible for the agriculture sector include the Ministry of Forest, Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock, and the Ministry of Forest and Environment. The main challenge to the sector is the rapidly increasing land degradation due to depletion of soil and water resources. This requires major focus on safety and quality of the resources.

In Bangladesh, agricultural research and extension is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture which organizes an annual workshop on research and extension. Both public and private sector are involved in research and extension. The CGIAR initiative and the Farming System Research Intervention (FSRI) are also involved in research and extension. The NARS system in Bangladesh is served by different Ministries dealing with agriculture. Various national-level projects are helping enhance institutional capacities.

The National Agriculture Technology Programme (NATP) is crucial for enhancing the research-extension and farmer linkage to promote farmer-to-farmer information exchange and is maintained through National Coordinating committees. The R-E (Research-Extension) development of supply chain component includes strengthening farmers-market linkage and enhancing institutional efficiency.

“There are, however, some constraints to planning, monitoring and evaluation activities, including lack of operational mechanisms and inadequate resources,” Dr. Kabir concluded. Overall, the country is shifting towards climate-smart agriculture and there is urgent need for capacity-building at national level in various agricultural sectors.

Prepared by Suraj Pandey, Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT), India

Taking fruits of research to farmers crucial for Asia Pacific food and nutrition security

The Expert consultation “Strengthening Linkages between Research and Extension to Promote Food and Nutrition Security” was launched this morning at the Sukusol Hotel in Bangkok. The meeting had to be relocated at the last minute from the United Nations building due to the ongoing political rally outside the United Nations Conference Centre.

Hunger and malnutrition affect an estimated about 533 million people in the region and food and nutrition security, therefore, ranks high on the Asia-Pacific development agenda.

The Consultation opened with key statements by Mr. Shun-ichi Murata, Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Mr. Hiroyuki Konuma, Assistant-Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) and Mr. Raj Paroda, Executive Secretary of the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI).

The speakers highlighted the need to reverse the decades-long decline in investment in agriculture. “We urgently need to rebalance our investment priorities and policies in order to give more attention to the development of agriculture and the rural sector,” Mr. Murata, stressed.

A reason for the decline in investment in agriculture was the mistaken belief, induced by the Green Revolution-driven farm abundance, that agriculture production had become easy. However, the food price crisis of 2008 was a wake-up call to the world, reminding it of the importance of investing in the sector.

Asia and the Pacific must not only increase food production to feed a growing population but also meet the growing demand for food quality and safety. This requires addressing challenges posed by climate change impacts, a declining natural resource base, the greying and feminization of agriculture, urbanization and the global economic crisis. With only marginal lands available to expand production, there is need to boost yields as well as step up investment in food storage and processing to reduce losses

“The sustainable intensification of production for crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry needs to be supported by more effective and efficient research - extension service within the shortest possible time to face these challenges,” said Mr. Konuma.

The Expert Consultation is taking stock of the current state of agricultural research and extension systems in Asia and the Pacific and will develop an Action Framework to make research-extension more efficient and relevant to the food security and nutritional needs of the region.

“Agricultural research is for innovation, not just for publication. We need to share experiences and develop a roadmap on what we can do,” Dr. Paroda said.

Prepared by Takashi Takahatake, Program Officer, CAPSA

Preliminary Findings about Ecological Sanitation in North Bihar, India

In June and July 2013, Janis Koknevics conducted interviews in three separate districts (Paschim (West) Champaran, Saharsa, and Khagaria) in the state of Bihar, in India, investigating the sustainability of ecosan units promoted and installed by Megh Pyne Abhiyan (MPA) an NGO associated with SATNET Asia. 

A village in the Khagaria district was the last study site for Mr. Koknevics, located in a district surrounded by large river systems, which lead to regular floods, loss of property and life. In this village, MPA installed 40 ecosan units, and a total of 24 households were interviewed. The majority of ecosan units observed where built with a brick/cement sub-structure and bamboo/mud super-structure while three units were fully brick/cement built. Several supplementary or temporarily unused units were utilized for storage of corn stalks, water filters, and straw bundles or for drying clothes. 

Ecosan users stated benefits of saving one to three hours/day not having to go for open defecation, using that time for household chores, cooking and relaxing. Safety of the family was noted as being very important and regular access to the ecosan as beneficial, especially during sickness and monsoon. Six households stated having used urine at least once for their crops, and observing greener, stronger crops. 

Issues observed and reported by respondents were broken water pipes, the presence of water in the excreta chambers (leading to bad smell), blocked urine pipes, and erosion of the soil supporting the structures. 

In conclusion, the technology does provide security, saves time, reduces fertilizer costs and increases hygiene awareness in the households that have adopted it. Also, training adopters on the use and maintenance of the units is necessary for long term use. Mr Koknevics believes it is a suitable technology if an awareness program goes hand in hand with the implementation of this technology.

Results from the sustainability assessment of riverbed farming in Nepal

In spring 2013, Ms. Katharina Schiller (MSc student, University of Hohenheim) investigated the sustainability of leasehold riverbed vegetable farming in the Terai of Nepal. She interviewed landless and land-poor farmers in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts in Far-Western Nepal. These farmers leased a minimum of 1354 m² (4 kattha, local land area unit) of seasonally dry riverbed from the community or private land owners to produce cucumbers, bottle and bitter gourds, pumpkins, and watermelons for market sale.

Riverbed farming group in Hasuliya, Nepal

On average, riverbed farmers earned US$ 236.46 (NPR 20,808.24) from 1354 m² of land, with 3 members of the household contributing farm labor. Thus, riverbed farming enabled households to gain extra income as well as created opportunities for employment of household members. 70% of households reported a reduction in male out-migration in search of work to Nepalese or Indian urban centers. Extra income is spent on children's education, food, and household needs. Farmers from groups that have been farming the riverbed for five years or more have been able to accumulate enough capital to diversify their income opportunities. Some farmers are investing in market center shops, such as cell phone repair shops; several are leasing increasingly large tracts of riverbed and hiring local wage laborers to till it, creating additional rural employment opportunities for other village households. One farmer's husband opened a roadside restaurant, ingenious since it creates both an immediate market and a value-added component for the produce.

Riverbed farming is an agricultural technology with minimal negative environmental impact. It uses no energy besides human labor, irrigation is necessary only if vegetables are grown on riverbanks, not in the riverbeds, and it doesn't disturb the neighborhood with dust or noise. Since the rivers change course often, requiring new beds to be dug, and farmers use comparatively small amounts of chemical inputs. By covering the sandy riverbeds, riverbed farming contributes to mitigating sandy dust in the air (reduction of sand erosion). Also, the use of marginal land such as riverbeds eases production pressure on arable land.

Also, riverbed farming has several positive features. According to interviewed farmers, riverbed farming is an easy-to-learn approach. Since it is based on lease of the riverbeds, it doesn't have large start-up costs in terms of physical capital required. Different types of spill-over effects were observed: The technology has been independently replicated in several places by neighbors or in neighboring villages. It was observed that not only the farmers themselves but also other family members and neighbors gathered to listen during information sessions with Local Resource Persons. Additionally, riverbed farmers are applying their new skills, such as the use of compost or mulching, in their home gardens as well.
All these criteria are taken into account for calculating a composite sustainability indicator of riverbed farming when comparing it with other technologies that the SATNET Asia project has collected with the help of its associates and network members.

Opportunities for the future support of riverbed farmers include facilitating a stronger infrastructure so farmers enjoy easier access to markets for both input buying and produce sales. A few groups traded surplus vegetables for grains and goods within the village, but most farmers reported travel times of 1-2 hours by foot, bicycle or buffalo-drawn cart to the nearest market center to buy seeds or sell their produce. Ensuring access to seeds early in the growing season is crucial: an early planting enables an early harvest, which fetches a much higher market price than during high season, when the marketplace is glutted with vegetables both local and from neighboring India. Another option to aid an early harvest is the construction of a group seedling nursery in winter, so vegetables can be planted in early spring. Other opportunities lie in the creation of savings or crop insurance cooperatives to mitigate short-term environmental risk, introducing Integrated Pest Management strategies to reduce use of pesticides and contribute to increasing biodiversity, offering additional business training sessions to help farmers diversify their income opportunities, creating stronger linkages to other local projects (like community seed banks in neighboring areas), and more farmer-to-farmer meetings for knowledge sharing.