Boost farm productivity: Speakers

As agriculture becomes more susceptible to the effects of climate change, it is necessary for farmers to make more efficient use of fertiliser and water to increase farm productivity and income.

Henk van Duijn, president and CEO of US-based International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), made the suggestion at the launch of Feed the Future Bangladesh Climate Smart Agriculture Activity (CSA) at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) in the city yesterday.

USAID is providing USD 35 million for the five-year CSA project starting this year to be implemented in 21 districts of the country's south and southwestern region.

In the past years, IFDC applied such technologies in Bangladesh and Africa and found reduction of fertiliser use by 30-40 percent and increase in farm production.

According to a presentation by Ishrat Jahan, chief of party, the project targeted saving 600,000 MT of fertiliser and have incremental production of crops by 9 million MT, which will be equivalent to USD 2.82 billion in next five years.

An estimated 900,000 smallholder farmers will be benefitted by the project that will use climate smart technologies, including digital apps, improved variety of seeds, she said.

Agriculture Ministry Secretary Wahida Akter said often times high labour cost becomes an issue, especially during the peak harvesting and planting seasons. So, promoting farm machinery can be very useful.

Dr Muhammad Khan, director of Economic Growth Programs of USAID Bangladesh and Dr Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar, executive chairman of BARC, spoke at the event among others.