2019 National Scientific Symposium & Technology Exhibition – Dhaka, Bangladesh

The event was organized by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Nutrition and its partners at the Hotel Lakeshore Dhaka. The symposium aimed to provide a platform for sharing, understanding, and adoption of concrete evidence on factors that determine outcomes along the pathway from agriculture-to-nutrition. The event featured key representatives from the Government of Bangladesh, joined by over 250 scientists, young researchers, development partners, academics, program implementers, researchers, and private sector representatives. The two-day event successfully offered an important platform for the participants to learn and synthesize findings from the Innovation Lab for Nutrition and other research studies on agriculture-to-nutrition pathways in Bangladesh. The symposium highlighted the importance of understanding the linkages between agriculture, nutrition, and health in Bangladesh. The event emphasized the need for integrated nutrition programming and the ability to prioritize what needs to be done to link research to practice and identify research gaps for future consideration. The Honorable Minister of Agriculture of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Abur Razzaque, inaugurated Day 1 of the event. The event featured ten presentations focused on three major themes: 1) sharing evidence from the flagship research of the Innovation Lab for Nutrition in Bangladesh, 2) linkages to agriculture, nutrition, and health, and 3) enhancing market development and private sector engagement factors. The presentations were followed by a high-level panel discussion on challenges and solutions within the realm of food systems research and programming. Day 2 of the event featured eight presentations and an exhibition of innovative agriculture value chain technologies from various institutions, including the Rural Development Academy, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, the Horticulture Lab at the University of California (UC) Davis, and private sector companies such as Metal Pvt. Ltd, Urmi Group, and Fosholi. Key observations from the event highlighted the importance of bridging knowledge gaps on pathways linking mechanization, food security, diets, and diets in Bangladesh. The event emphasized the need for multiple actions to improve diets of rural Bangladeshi households and the link between diet and child stunting. Findings showed that improved diet quality interventions need to target mothers and their children earlier in their lives. The event also emphasized the importance of development of market structures, access to credit, information, training, and inputs. It highlighted the need to leverage markets towards self-reliance and the critical role of the public sector in service provisions, such as water, sanitation, and sanitation education, and health and nutrition education. Improved understanding of food safety is also critical in Bangladesh to build trust in the food system. The event concluded that partnerships with the private sector in the adoption of technologies are critical technologies are critical. Profitability matters, but part of that relates to the adoption of technologies to drive down costs. Mutual benefits need to be explored for private sector companies to work more closely with the Government of Bangladesh. The technology exhibition was successful in highlighting the willingness of the private sector to play a role in the adoption and scale-up of innovative agriculture value chain technologies.