Feed the Future Bangladesh Rice and Diversified Crops (RDC) Activity FY2018 Quarter 3 Report

The initiative targets 500,000 farmers from the FTF zone in southwestern Bangladesh and has a budget of US$24.5 million. The project started in July 2016 and will end in July 2021. During the third quarter of FY2018, from April 1 to June 30, 2018, RDC initiated pilot activities across various business models, including procurement, distribution of inputs, business support services, and mechanization. Market actor agreements (MAAs) reached critical stages of implementation, resulting in lessons learned about crop procurement systems and company attitudes and capacities. Three companies, NCPL, PCF, and SACO, have been active in purchasing crops. SACO successfully purchased crops from their farmers, while PCF and NCPL found that their farmers could sell their crops for more than the price of imported sunflower or maize, resulting in much of the crop being sold to local buyers. Bayer Crop Science provided crop production advice to their 17 Crop Clinic Advisors and 781 Ambassador Farmers, and provided pest management advice to 3,587 farmers visiting their crop clinics. Three companies, PetroChem, Partex, and Ispahani, initiated monsoon season rice production activities, but implementation of farmer training and seed selling was delayed by the Eid festival and the need for company field staff to close their accounts at the end of the fiscal year in Bangladesh. The PetroChem Maize program, implemented in partnership with Dupont Pioneer, has been initiated with the planting of 10 farmer field trials testing two new long-season tropical maize hybrids adapted to monsoon conditions. The black sesame production program initiated by JGIL started with 800 farmers receiving training in postharvest production and links being made with Vietnamese and Chinese buyers. Market actor agreements are being developed with several companies, including Bombay Sweets, Metal Pvt Ltd, and ACI Motors, to promote the procurement of aromatic rice and mustard through contract grower schemes, combine harvester marketing and service provisions, and ICT-enabled services for farmers. These agreements aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of market systems, ultimately benefiting farmers and consumers in the FTF zone.