USAID AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS PROJECT – BANGLADESH YEAR 4 WORK PLAN: OCTOBER 2016 – SEPTEMBER 2017

During Year 3, the project underwent a substantial change process, aligning its compliance, operational, technical, and managerial processes with a systems-based approach. This change has enabled AVC to become more efficient in resource allocation and strategically catalyze growth in the selected market systems. Year 4 is set to be an important year for AVC, focusing on three core systemic changes. Firstly, creating efficient and transparent market structures in the Southern Delta will catalyze the development of robust supply chain networks for mango, peanuts, potato, mungbean, and vegetables. This is expected to increase smallholders' engagement in these structures and provide them with more transparent and fair pricing, co-investment, and reduced market risks. Secondly, facilitating the development of robust and structured input distribution networks will amplify farmers' feedback to supply chain actors, enabling them to cater to farmers' demand with better inputs and services more efficiently and effectively. Thirdly, emphasizing relationship management processes and practices will overcome the current trust deficits and catalyze the emergence of supply chain and input distribution structures that are more resilient, transparent, and inclusive growth-oriented. The next focal area is improving the innovation cycle around important agricultural technologies. The current cycle is broken due to relational gaps between researchers and firms, as well as between firms and farmers/service providers. As a result, there are no effective feedback loops connecting on-farm practice and needs to researchers in academia, donor projects, and private/public research facilities. AVC will take a two-pronged approach to catalyzing improvements in the innovation cycle, focusing on commercializing known technologies through improved marketing and distribution network management, and catalyzing newer technologies to enter the market. AVC will test a modified lean start-up/customer-centered design process with some emerging technologies to encourage stakeholders to see the need for early-stage collaboration in technology development and commercialization. The project will also work to catalyze more private sector investment in research through exchange visits and challenge grants. Environmental resilience is woven throughout AVC's efforts to catalyze a more effective research and technology innovation cycle. The project will focus on several key market systems, including mango, potatoes, tomatoes, summer vegetable baskets, groundnuts, pulses, natural fiber, and flowers. AVC will also work on cross-cutting initiatives such as building women business networks, entrepreneurship development, access to finance, marketing and media, information communication technology, communications, and knowledge management, monitoring, and evaluation systems. AVC has established important platforms to catalyze change in the agro SME segment of the Southern Delta, which dominates the open market systems most of AVC's selected crops flow through. With these platforms and relational structures in place, Year 4 is all about catalyzing real and durable change. AVC expects to see more smallholders engaging in these structures and receiving more transparent and fair pricing, co-investment, and reduced market risks.