For most of the urbanites, rural Bangladesh is that huge, heterogeneous part of the country that catches our attention only with the news of floods, droughts, cyclones and storms. It amazes us how much we know about villages where more than 100 million Bangladeshis live. The reasons for ignorance are obvious : more than 60 per cent of our villages are not connected by road and power supply to a vast number of villages is still a dream and telecom facilities are still non-existent in many.
Sadly true, even when the country is experiencing unprecedented shortage of food items caused now by repeated floods and devastating cyclones and compounded further by break down in production and supply side chain, neither the government nor corporate houses in the country seem to have shown any inclination to rush to villages in a bid to either establish or expand their businesses. But sensible citizenry are beginning to realise that rural Bangladesh is no longer unviable, there is opportunity for those who can smell.
Undeniably true, if the country has to grow fast, 70 per cent of the country's private consumption that comes from villages has to grow fast. Noticeably, in India big corporate houses like Mittal, Tata, Godrej, Mahindra and Reliance and ITC have started rushing to the countryside and have made big headway in expanding rural business, especially agribusiness. The incentive is clear enough for a country where 70 per cent of the farming is still rain-fed, that means a lot for farmers' prosperity. Surprisingly, contrary to popular perception of dealing in dirty business, the ITC ( once called the Imperial Tobacco Company, that even now is one-third owned by British tobacco giant BAT ) has made a big thrust in rural India in expanding agri farming business in an effort to shed its image.
The irony is that farmers in our country buy everything at retail prices and sell their produce at wholesale price. In an effort that production and sale go on a competitive edge, innovative methods are being brought into play in many developing countries. Taking instance from the neighbouring India, we can transform our agriculture in an effort that the country does not remain an import-driven one and can fight the vagaries of nature and can compensate the crop losses in the wake of a big calamity like the one the coastal region of Bangladesh experienced recently. This can be replicated here in Bangladesh like the one ITC in India has brought about by initiating a mass awakening in villages through formation of e-choupal.
The Hindi word 'choupal' stands for village square where elders meet to discuss matters of importance. The all-important letter in the whole word is "e" which stands for a computer with an internet connection for farmers to gather around and interact not just among themselves but with people anywhere in the country and even beyond. It begins with ITC installing a computer with solar-charged batteries for power and a VSAT internet connection in selected villages. A local farmer, with just a training of seven days, called 'Sanchalok'( conductor) operates the computer on behalf of the ITC, but exclusively for farmers. This e-choupal offers farmers and the village community five distinct services :
Information : Daily weather forecast, price of various crops, e-mails to farmers and ITC officials, news, -- all this in the local language and free of cost.
Knowledge : Farming methods specific to each crop, and region, soil testing, expert advice --mostly sourced from agricultural universities -- all for free.
Purchase : Farmers can buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and a host of other products and services ranging from cycles and tractors to insurance policies. Encouraged by the success it has reaped in the meantime, over 35 companies have become partners in the e-choupal to sell their products through the network.
Sales : Farmers can sell their products to the ITC centres or the local market after checking the prices on the Net.
Development work : NGOs working for the cattle breed improvement and water harvesting , and women self-help groups are also reaching villages through e-choupal. In some states farmers can even access their land records on line, sitting in their villages. Access to health and education services through e-choupal is coming up.
Undeniably the present government that have brought about many epoch making reforms in the country, could instill such innovative methods in farming that are geared to maximise production to that companies engaged in such endeavours can transform the entire food chain -- from farm to firm to fork. Most firms in many states of India are not only selling products to farmers but are also bringing village produce to cities and even taking to markets abroad, forming a two-way transaction channel between rural India and the rest of the world. But at the heart of such initiatives is the innovative use of information technology, which in all parts of the developed and developing world has helped companies ride over abysmal infrastructure in the villages.
But unhappily, the word 'information technology' till now in Bangladesh remains mostly unfamiliar and somewhat a dreaded device to be followed in the countryside. With the government of the day having a pro-rural policy and a clear focus on villages, as well as providing the first trigger, companies might tap the benefits of information technology to meet the emerging export opportunities now available at our doorsteps.
The ITC agri-business story is something that anybody at the beginning would not be inclined to believe. Knowing that he was almost asking for the moon, one Sivakumar, chief executive of ITC's agri-business approached Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, chairman of 12,000 crore ITC company in 2000 for Rs 50 lakh to test his idea among the soya farmers in Madhya Pradesh. Astounding it may sound, but Deveshwar granted him Rs10 crore. The rest, is history.
During my visit to Satkhira and its remotest places like Kaliganj, Shyamnagore, Harinagore, Vetkhali, and Naubeki, bordering the Sunderbans, I saw to my horror vast tracts of agricultural land being turned into shrimp farms by allowing saline water into the paddy lands from the nearest ebb-tide river. Satkhira, especially its southern part of Kaliganj, Assasuni and Shyamnagore once known as the granary of Khulna is now a food deficit area. The average yield of paddy per acre, if climatic conditions favour and irrigation water, fertilisers and pesticide are available in time is 45 maunds ( 15 tons ) fetching Tk. 27000.00which is shared equally by the barga chasi and the owner of the land, where as the shrimp cultivation per acre annually yields about Tk 48,000.00 without the cost of labour and other inputs needed for paddy cultivation. So the biggest hindrance is the lack of incentive compounded further by the farmer's inability to invest in his productivity improvement. This is where private in vestment will make a big difference. By investing in the farmer's ability to grow more and grow better government and companies will not only get better product for their agri-business but they will also help farmers get prosperous. As I have seen during my visit to the rural places of Satkhira availability of electricity is still a dream but that has not deterred development efforts. 'Grameen Shakti', a solar business firm has spread the use of solar charged batteries in the houses in the rural areas and people in those places are using these facilities to lit up their homes and watch television. True an enlightened farmer with the knowledge of computer learning especially in the internet techniques could be a key driver in bringing about rural push towards better living. This internet facilities will be making a new ecosystem in rural Bangladesh with cheap, efficient two-way channels between villages, companies, NGOs and the government. What the government or the companies intending to bring about change will be required to do is to install solar powered computer with VSAT for internet, making crop specific websites available in Bangla language. During my visit to all such far flung areas I have seen people belonging to all ages, all genders, even a shrimp farm worker having one mobile phone in his hand and amazingly conversant with diverse knowledge of cell phone use. These people while working either in hatcheries and fish farms continue to provide information to the owner and other business partners and buyers staying away from the production area. Taking cue from what we have seen in these people in recent time, one feels any body even if he is moderately educated or simply literate can make use of such computers an internet facilities through a conductor or 'Sonchalok' who may have to be trained just for 7 days. What they will learn from such internet facilities brought to their door steps are movies in the latest farm techniques, weather forecasts and expert advice on e-mail. They may have insights into development issues like water harvesting, on line land records health and education services. All these efforts will mean keeping people, namely the landless labourers and farm hands busy in their own areas by giving them an opportunity to earn their own living and save their families from starvation.
Rural people now see that efforts at planting, marketing and export of agro-based products like mangoes, pine apples, bananas, guavas, and lichis offers splendid prospects for themselves and the country. It is a common knowledge that large quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables are wasted every year owing to spoilage and lack of processing and preservation systems especially during the peak harvesting season. This calls for setting up of adequate number of agro-based industries which in turn would create job opportunities for a vast number of young men and women roaming the streets for job. Nobody can deny that these products would have an increasingly big market as it is evident from the fact that even our local markets sell canned fruit juice, jellies and sometimes canned fruits even. In an effort to establish these agro-based industries what we need is to evolve appropriate technologies for clean and wholesome processing, preservation and canning This calls for participation of big businesses and entrepreneurs for mobilising funds to help these growth centres. Without diversification and extension of their activities far away from the city centres to the remotest places of the country, our economic future seems doomed. Keeping ourselves busy in blowing up the issue of poverty and income gaps without offering a realistic help would only provoke the sensitivity of the masses leading to tension and group feuds. Macro-economic stability would not last without creating such growth centres in the countryside.
Precisely told, the country needs to speed up its growth momentum in an wider section of people and that is the only option left to halt the migration of people to city areas. After all people want to stay in the area they have grown up provided all facilities including employment generation, basic needs of health and education are readily available there.
Shyamnagore once known as the granary of Khulna, is now a food deficit area. The average yield of paddy per acre, if climatic conditions favour and irrigation water, fertiliser and pesticide are available in time, is 45 maunds ( 15 tons ) fetching Tk. 27,000.00which is shared equally by the share cropper and the owner of the land, whereas the shrimp cultivation per acre annually yields about Tk 48,000.00 without the cost of labour and other inputs needed for paddy cultivation. So the biggest hindrance is the lack of incentive compounded further by the farmer's inability to invest in his productivity improvement. This is where private in vestment can make a big difference.
By investing in the farmer's ability to grow more and grow better government and companies will not only get better product for their agri-business but they also help farmers to get prosperous. As I have seen availability of electricity is still a dream but that has not deterred development efforts. 'Grameen Shakti', a solar business firm has spread the use of solar charged batteries in the houses in the rural areas and people in those places are using these facilities to lit up their homes and watch television. True an enlightened farmer with the knowledge of computer especially the internet techniques could be a key driver in bringing about rural push towards better living. This internet facilities be making a new ecosystem in rural Bangladesh with cheap, efficient two-way channels between villages, companies, NGOs and the government.
What change the government or the companies intending to bring about will to install solar powered computer with VSAT for internet, making crop specific websites available in Bangla language. During my visit to all such far flung areas I have seen people belonging to all ages, genders, even shrimp farm worker mobile phone using. Taking cue from what we have seen in these people, one feels any body moderately educated or simply literate can make use of such computers and internet facilities through a conductor or 'Sonchalok' who may have to be trained just for seven days. What they will learn from such internet facilities brought to their door steps are latest farm techniques, weather forecasts and expert advice on e-mail. They may have insights into development issues like water harvesting, on line land records health and education services. All these efforts will mean keeping people, namely the landless labourers and farm hands busy in their own areas by giving them an opportunity to earn their living
Rural people now see that efforts at planting, marketing and export of agro-based products like mangoes, pine apples, bananas, guavas, and lichis offer splendid prospects for themselves and the country. It is a common knowledge that large quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables are wasted every year owing to spoilage and lack of processing and preservation especially during the peak harvesting season. This calls for setting up adequate number of agro-based industries which in turn would create job opportunities for a vast number of young men and women. Nobody can deny that these products would have an increasingly big market as it is evident from the fact that even our local markets sell canned fruit juice, jellies and sometimes canned fruits even.
In an effort to establish these agro-based industries what we need is to evolve appropriate technologies for clean and wholesome processing, preservation and canning This calls for participation of big businesses and entrepreneurs for mobilising funds to help these growth centres. Without diversification and extension of their activities far away from the city centres to the remotest places of the country, our economic future seems insecure.
Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.