Transform the agri-food system by strengthening small and family farming approaches and developing agri-entrepreneurship.

The goal of this project is to increase the living income and woman empowerment of 14 woman cooperative members in Rajshahi district through beef and goat value chain activities. WAVE is implementing the project in 4 Upazilas (Godagari, Paba, Mohanpur, and Puthia) under Rajshahi district with the support of Heifer International Bangladesh.

WAVE has been implementing this project from January 2022 with the support of PKSF and IFAD. The goal of this project is to increase the income of marginal and small farmers and backward and forward market entrepreneurs related to meat and dairy sub-sectors, ensure food security and improve family nutrition. It intervenes to develop the value chain for safe meat and dairy products at different stages, value addition, expansion of financial services for the development of enterprises and strengthening of institutional structure. Initiatives are being taken to increase the range of enterprises and expand the enterprise through efficient production methods and strong market connections of marginal and small farmers. The project interventions primarily target (i) the poor, (ii) the transitional poor, and (iii) the enterprising poor. Among target groups, 30% are youth and at least 70% are women. This project is addressing some issues such as inadequate animal services, lack of quality cattle feed, conventional farm management, poor processing, lack of knowledge about safe meat and milk production and inadequacy of ICT and financial services in developing the market for safe meat and dairy products. It has 6 interventions i.e. 1: Livestock service market development and easier access to new and improved services locally through the development of LSPs, 2: Development of feed market by developing supply chain of high yielding raw grass, silage and ready feed through local suppliers along with concerned companies/institutions, 3: Farm mechanization by jointly developing dealers and sub-dealers with the concerned companies, 4: Production of safe dairy products and entry into the premium market,  5: Safe meat production and entry into the premium market and  6 : Expansion of ICT and financial services. The project will involve 24,000 farmers and 1,000 service providers to strengthen the backward and forward markets during its period. WAVE is implementing this project in Damurhuda Upazila and Sadar Upazila of Chuadanga District; Mujibnagar Upazila, Sadar Upazila and Gangni Upazila of Meherpur District and Sadar Upazila of Jhenaidah District.

WAVE has started implementing this project from 2020 in Manikganj District. The aim of the project is to increase the sustainable income of local farmers and reduce consumer health risks by ensuring safe vegetables production and marketing using various technologies throughout the year on a commercial basis. The initiative is undertaken to create safe vegetable villages with local farmers for safe vegetables production. Use of environment friendly agricultural technology and vegetable production will promote health risks free safe vegetables throughout the year. The project interventions intend to increase the capability of targeted farmers to produce safe crops and extend agricultural technology to build reliable safe vegetables market management and ensure farmers’ access to the market.  Also public awareness will be raised on safe vegetables. The various activities under the project are- Farmers selection, formation of Farmers Producer organization and create safe vegetable production villages, Capacity Building (Training, Field Day Observation and Motivation Trips), Vegetables production using various technologies (GAP, IPM) for safe vegetables production, Distribution of agricultural inputs, Implement activities related to market linkage and development, Linkage with public-private service institutions (meetings and workshops), Ensure fund raising and financial support, Campaigning (setting up sign boards, making and distributing posters and leaflets, participating in various agricultural fairs, promotion in electronic media and maintain liaison, video documentation) and so on. The project is being implemented in Singair upazilla under Manikganj district with the support of PKSF.

Onion Cultivation and Marketing intervention has been implementing in Meherpur and Chuadanga Districts as WAVE’s own initiative. In 2017, WAVE has started this initiative under ‘Promoting Agricultural Commercialization and Enterprises (PACE) Project’ of PKSF in Meherpur District. The initiatives have implemented by WAVE follow the strategy of combining financial & non-financial services and transfer of technologies to the micro-entrepreneurs involved in year-round onion cultivation and value chain development. Its specific objectives are; increasing the income of project participants of year-round onion cultivation by ensuring availability of quality seeds & seedlings; reducing the post-harvest wastages and production cost through establishing cost-effective commercial storage system at the farmers’ level and creating wage-based employment through expansion of year-round onion cultivation.

FPO/Krishi Morcha is a smallholder farmers’ organization that aims to improve the standard of farmer’s living and ensure a good status of their available support, income, and profitability to promote small farming as a viable business. WAVE Foundation has been working to organize and capacitated farmers under its initiative of FPOs concept named Krishi Morcha, in different regions in Bangladesh. As of now, WAVE reaches 425 farmers’ doorstep with a total of 16 Krishi Morcha group in three districts of Chuadanga, Meherpur, and Manikganj. This can be a potential model to improve the livelihood of the small and marginal farmers by evolving social capital, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), agricultural supply and value chain. Farmers are trained and equipped with different input supplies, access to modern technologies, and a wider range of market information to sell their products at a fair price. Furthermore, they have been linked up with Government service providing institutions for better access to agricultural services. WAVE Foundation implements several projects on agriculture and livestock leveraging ICT tools for uplifting the livelihood of rural farmers, development of agro entrepreneurs, safe vegetables production, Black Bengal Goat Rearing involving Krishi Morcha groups with its own fund. This initiative has a significant contribution towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs), in particular, Goals 1, 2 and 8.

WAVE Foundation has been implementing diversified agriculture, livestock and fisheries related activities under this unit with a collaborative partnership of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF). To promote and extend sustainable, innovative and environment-friendly technology (agriculture, livestock and fisheries) and also provide extension services along with farmer’s capacity building support to the door-steps is the aim of this unit. This unit enables the farmers to advancement in access to resources, market information and advisory services for boosting sustainable farm production, ensure household food & nutrition security and create employment opportunities in rural areas.

The overall goal of the project is to strengthen small ruminant market value chain. To mobilize current and new livestock service providers (LSP), provide training on business development services to loan recipients, carry out village level animal health campaigns across targeted districts for small ruminants, establish buck service centers, and then buy back and sell it off through output market linkage, the project has diversified interventions. Along with promoting financial inclusion, the core activities cover capacity building, reduce mortality rate, ready-feed, forage, and fodder promotion, buck service centers and loan services. The areas covered under this project are Meherpur, Chuadanga, Jhenaidah, Kushtia, Jashore and Magura district of Khulna Division and Patuakhali and Barguna district of Barishal Division. It will be executed through 25 branches under WAVE’s community finance program during the period of August 2023 to August 2025. The ACDI/VOCA is the technical partner while USAID is providing financial support to the project with a budget of BDT 64,893,000.

WAVE has been conducting Action Research for improving the quality and productivity of its products and promoting innovative ideas. To achieve this, WAVE has been working on Black Bengal Goat and Sheep breeding farm, fish culture, onion seed processing and other innovations in its own campus situated in Koshaghata village near Chuadanga district town. Besides, the program participants are provided with skills development training in the campus. In 2010, the campus was named as ‘Center for Development and Capacity-CDC’. Organization is developing enterprises in the aim of sustainability of its programs.  At the same time, organization is operating on firm training center in CDC.

BBG Breeding Farm

Fish Farm

Dumba Farm

Sheep Farm (Meherpur & Patuakhali)