‘Farming has been very productive and sustainable than ever. Based on the information and advisory services provided through the monitoring app, we can plan times for sowing, harvesting, protection and other field activities in order to avoid yield losses.’ This was the response from one of the beneficiary farmers present at Farmers Producer Organization-FPO Convention.
Since 2017, WAVE Foundation is implementing Small Farming A-Viable Business project as a coordinating partner with DHAN Foundation, India. This is an international professional exchange fellowship program supported by the Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation (Norec). This year the project especially focused on Capacity building to create ICT based FPO monitoring tool alongside Digital Training process to promote Small Farming as a Viable Business. The objective was to align all relevant stakeholders to speed up the process of connecting farmers with required support initiatives and mobilizing them.
The convention of FPO on Interventions of ICT monitoring tool was held on 26 December, 2021 at WAVE Trade Training Center, Darsana, Chuadanga, Bangladesh. This convention was organized by WAVE Foundation with support of Norec. Besides participants from WAVE Foundation, Norec Professionals from DHAN Foundation also joined the convention via zoom. The event was graced by some government official as well as a few key personnel and stakeholders of this project including Jibannagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ariful Islam as chief guest while Damurhuda Upazila Agriculture Officer Moniruzzaman and Jibannagar Agriculture Officer Mahbub Hossain joined as special guests. President of FPO Mr. Abdul Hannan presided over the meeting. Besides, Mr. Kitab Ali, Coordinator of WAVE Foundation gave a short welcome speech to everyone attending the convention and highlighted the importance of the convention’s topic in context of the country. Mr. Abdus Shukur, Advisor of WAVE Foundation gave a short brief about the need of FPOs for the farmers. He also, discussed about the goals, objectives and activities of FPOs which can bring benefits by using ICT monitoring tool.
About 150 representatives of 6 FPOs of Damurhuda and Jibannagar Upazila participated in the convention. The FPO representatives presented their activities, income and expenditure, their experience of using ICT monitoring tool and further plans for the future. One of the representatives said, ‘There was no institutional organization to speak on behalf of the farmers, so the Farmer’s Producer Organizations have been formed in the adjoining districts including Chuadanga with a view to address different challenges, increase and diversify production in a sustainable manner, improve food and nutrition security, and act as major agents of change in Bangladesh’.
One of the Norec Professionals Nasefa Ali have comment on this tool, ‘The sheer multitude of ICT initiatives in agricultural sector and digitalization turned out to be a game changer for small holder agriculture and plays an important role in revitalizing the interconnection between extension services and farmers by making services more inclusive, up-to-date and demand-driven’
The lead farmers of FPOs discussed about the challenges, limitations and possibilities to make their farm profitable as well as their expectations from the monitoring app. They also put forth various demands of farmers to the government officials including availability and supply of agricultural inputs to the farmers on regular basis for crop production, such as; seeds, adulterated fertilizers and pesticides, credit, irrigation materials etc., initiatives to stop price hiking of fertilizers & seeds by creating artificial crisis and field monitoring by sub-assistant agricultural officers.
Chief guest Mr. Ariful Islam emphasized on Farmer’s Producers Organization and its role on entrepreneurship, empowerment, self-reliance and value-addition. He also accentuated on how WAVE Foundation has emphasized on digitalization of agriculture. He mentioned about the contribution of WAVE Foundation to empower the farmers by imparting education & knowledge on digital technology and skill-based capacity development. As government officials, they assured the farmers to provide required support needed as they firmly believe FPOs will play the vital role of connecting individual farmers with market. Few participants gave away their opinion in the convention. Farmers in the convention were given floor to share their user experience. One of the farmers shared his opinion saying, ‘Through FPO we have become eligible for exploring opportunities of benefits from various government schemes and by means of aggregation, the reach of local communities has widen, knowledge gap has been reduced and provided newer business opportunities thereby enhancing our livelihoods’.
While sharing the experience of this tool another Norec Professional of WAVE Foundation Mehedi Hasan Bappy shared ‘It seems that the other staff who are not engage this exchange program also learning digital tools implementation from the project, which is an important component in Norec’s exchange model. He added that the monitoring tool has given a new dimension to farmers.
Key Learnings from the Convention
- The convention has enabled farmers to meet and network with other farmers of FPOs, building engagement, trust and enhancing cluster competitiveness.
- The farmers were able to share their experiences, capabilities and potentialities of their respective organizations.
- The farmers of the FPOs were able to share their problems, challenges, demands such as access to affordable quality inputs, technology, quality extension, marketing etc. and Upazila Administration and Agriculture Department have assured them to resolve some of the issues.
- The monitoring tool has helped farmers to monitor and manage farms, plan and implement product specific cluster and strengthen farmer’s capacity through agricultural best practices for enhanced productivity
- The govt. officials declared that the allocation of budget for the agriculture sector will be made in consultation with the FPOs and FPO representatives would get the chance to participate in the planning.
Throughout this program, farmers have got a sheer amount of encouragement to use E-Agricultural services. It is also evident that such services can bring broader development ensuring economic growth and promoting small farming- a viable business.
