A mega-size modern marketing chain is evolving in Bangladesh under the auspices of a foreign aid-provider-turned-trade facilitator that sees prospect of this country to become world's biggest exporter of farm foods.
Salidaridad with the support from the Netherlands Embassy in Bangladesh is facilitating the country's largest efficient supply chain under Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Linkages (SaFaL) programme. It engages all actors in the chain in innovative market solutions that maximizes benefits for all.
During a visit to Narail and Khulna to see dairy and shrimp projects being processed under SaFal recipe, the Dutch Ambassador in Dhaka, Garben de Jong, observed Bangladesh has potential to be world's largest agricultural foods exporting country.
"Currently Netherlands is world's second-largest agricultural goods exporter despite being five times smaller than Bangladesh in size….. Why not Bangladesh? He posed the question.
"... Bangladesh has all potentials to be even world's largest agricultural exporting country," he told farmers of Hatiara Dairy Producer Group in Narail during his two-day field trip on June 25-26.
Hatiara village is located under Seikhati Union of Narail SadarUpazila (sub-district) of Naral district. The ambassador also visited Boyarsingh Bagda Producer Group in Atlia union of Dumuria upazila under Khulna district. They have 61 household members.
Currently Solidaridad is implementing the SaFaL programme at a cost of € 12 million for improving food and nutrition security for around 57,000 farm households, disadvantaged landless workers and women in Khulna, Jessore and Narail of the southwestern Bangladesh. The 56,000 farm households have 1,000 producer groups of such types.
Solidaridad, launched in 1969 by the Dutch churches as an advent campaign in aid of Latin America, has now spread its wings across the world as trade facilitator from aid provider.
"We want to bring together commodity supply chain actors and engage them in innovative solutions, using our Netherlands experience, to improve production, ensuring the transition to a sustainable and inclusive economy that maximizes the benefit for all," Mr Jong said.
The diplomat said the Netherlands has achieved too many successes in agriculture by forming cooperatives.
"The stronger the cooperatives are, too high the success rates are," he said, adding that the same potential in Bangladesh is prevailing.
He noted that forming strong cooperatives, efficient water and land management, creating markets for the products were never so easy. "We did that and Bangladesh also can do that," he said, however.
SaFaL signed MoU with M.U. Sea Foods to connect SaFaL shrimp farmers directly with the processing plant. MoU is under progress with Lal Teer Seed Ltd, Ispahani Agro Ltd, ACI Ltd, Rahimafrooz CIC Agro, Rahimafrooz - Agora, Benfish Bangladesh and M U Seafood Ltd.
"We are not going to do business ourselves; our role is facilitator's role. We facilitate developing local and international market linkages among producers, processing units and supply-chain actors to give farmers a strong incentive to adopt certified sustainable practices," Solidaridad Bangladesh Country Manager Selim Reza Hasan told The Financial Express.
He said Solidaridad signed MoU with the agro-food companies to accelerate the growth of the agricultural sector and impact on sustainable food production and boost the economy of the country. This will spur private-sector investment to create more efficient markets in ensuring access to quality basic input supply and new agricultural technologies for the small-holder farm households.
"We will work together with these companies to establish well-functioning seed-distribution system and new technologies to spur economic growth that increases incomes and food and nutrition security for the smallholders," Mr Hasan said.
He said SaFal programme supports training and capacity building to improve farm management, organisational development and assist getting them connected to national and international sustainable supply chains and facilitate certification of their farms under national and international sustainability standards.
"We also provide consumer communication support on sustainable products, supply-chain transformation, designing and implementation of corporate social responsibility policies, risk management."
He said SaFal also intends to develop sustainability standards for newly emerging markets and for international markets, facilitate networking and dissemination of best practices through regional and global sector-specific roundtables, lobby for adoption of sustainability policy.
Selim Reza Hasan says each country has unique situation. SaFal explores Bangladesh's unique agricultural prospects and problems to utilize and solve them by way of engaging community people.
He told the FE that farmers are organized into producer groups in three sub-sectors, i.e., aquaculture, dairy and horticulture. Capacities and knowledge building of these groups are taking place for the adoption of profitable and sustainable farming and access a new business venture in the market supply chain.
"Promotion of technologies, market linkages and financial services are planned so that smallholder farmers could have accessibility and affordability of new technologies and that ensures profitable earning," he said.
The Dutch ambassador also visited some other programmes on water management in the South-West which were supported by government agencies.
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