50,000 farmers to get agri input, tech support
The government under a Tk 82 crore three-year project will help 50,000 small and marginal farmers with agriculture input support and assistance in the use of modern technologies and proper fertiliser application to improve their economic status.
The project will begin in January next year in 50 upazilas of 31 districts across the country.
"Our objective is to bring the selected farmers out of poverty," said Khandker Moyeenuddin, project director of Soil Fertility Component (SFC) Project under Food Security Programme-2006.
European Union (EU) will provide over Tk 73 crore, Bangladesh government over Tk 2.12 crore and implementation partners will provide over Tk 6.80 crore to implement the project, said officials at the launching of "Call for Proposal" at the auditorium of Khamarbari in the capital yesterday.
Government agencies or NGOs experienced in the agriculture sector can submit proposals on how they would implement the project in six regions. Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) is the implementing agency of the project and it is seeking project implementation partners.
The regions are: the coastal zone of the south and south-western districts, active floodplains and chars in the northern and central districts, peat basin in Gopalganj, piedmont plains in the extreme northern districts, hilly areas in Chittagong Hill Tracts and Moulvibazar.
A separate organisation will also be selected for training and dissemination of training materials and information to effectively implement the project.
Under the SFC project, groups of 25 farmers will be formed and they will be provided power tillers or irrigation pumps, seeds and fertilisers free of cost.
"That pump or power tiller of a group will be used for cultivating or irrigating all the land of the group as well as other farmers whose land is nearby," SFC Project Director Moyeenuddin told The Daily Star on the sidelines of the Call for Proposal programme.
The farmers in the group will also be provided information on proper use of fertilisers. The soil of the farmers' land will be tested and they will be suggested what crops to grow, he said.
Moyeenuddin said appropriate use of fertilisers could increase 10 to 20 percent yield. Besides, organic fertiliser will also be encouraged.
After the project, the equipment the farmers received in groups will be their own. "We want farmers to have a practice of cooperation," Khandker Moyeenuddin said.
Addressing the programme as the chief guest, Additional Secretary to the Agriculture Ministry AKM Awal Majumder said they had found many inconsistencies in implementing such projects before. "Every step must be transparent so that the real poor, small and marginal farmers get the benefit," he said.
Joint Secretary to the Agriculture Ministry Saidur Rahman said the issue of climate change and its effects on soil must be considered, while implementing the project.
SRDI Director Hamidul Haque presided over the programme. EU representative Manzurul Alam also spoke.
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