An initiative to improve farmers’ livelihood boosting production

RANGPUR, Jan 26: Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and  Syngenta    with the assistance of VSO's local partner Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) organised a  day-long rally  for beneficiary farmers group of the  project Growing Together at Kafrikhal Baluapara village of Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur district  on Thursday.
Chief Executive of VSO Mr. Philip Goodwin attended the gathering as the chief guest while its Country Director in Bangladesh Simon Brown was also present on the occasion.
The partnership project between VSO, an international development charity that fights poverty through the lasting power of volunteering and Syngenta is being implemented with support from RDRS.
It was disclosed in rally that The Growing Together programme is a unique programme co-created by Syngenta and VSO which aims to sustainable improvement of the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Bangladesh and to create thriving rural communities.
The three and a half-year  partnership combines Syngenta's agricultural expertise and technology with VSO's international development expertise and provision of volunteering opportunities for employees.
Growing Together aims to address the issues faced by smallholder farmers by providing training and replacing existing techniques with more efficient methods with a view to producing higher yields through use of demo plots.
It works with the farmers to diversify their crops and enable them to better react to market demand as well as help them become more resilient to changing conditions.
It also supports for the development of farmers' groups that have greater access to markets and benefit from increased bargaining power, leading to better prices.
Syngenta has a strong commitment to sustainability and helping smallholders to increase productivity.  It has set itself the highest sustainability targets to be reached by 2020 and is working closely with multiple partners to find common solutions in addressing global challenges of food security.
The Growing Together programme aims to increase internal awareness about the challenges of smallholders and to contribute in helping improve the community's economic and food security.
In the open discussions session, beneficiary members of the project discussed about successes achieved in improving socio-economic condition of by producing crops and making good profit from the sale of their produce.
They said they have achieved self-reliance by utilising knowledge and skills acquired from the training courses provided them on crop cultivation, proper use of fertilisers, pesticides and other agri-inputs. They also can get micro credit loans under the project through ensuring proper management.
Md. Rafiqul Islam Faruki, project manager (Agri-Value Chains) of VSO narrated various aspects, goals and objectives of the project and strategies being followed for its proper implementation.
The chief guest appreciated the project activities, success and the change in socio-economic condition of ultra- poor farmers.
Managing director of Syngenta Md. Sazzadul Hossain, co-ordinator of RDRS Manjusri  Saha, operations manager of VSO, Bangladesh Md. Forkhan Uddin were present on the occasion among others.
Later, the chief guest visited farmers centre in Kafrikhal area. The centre supports dozens of farmer groups with approx. 30 members in each group. There are 230 farmer groups in the project at the moment. The centre acts as the Sale and Learning center where farmers elect board members to support the management and communication with stakeholders, receive training, have access to fair price seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and learn to sell their products as  a group to make much more incomes.
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