Social Enterprises: Agriculture

Storage

BRAC Cold Storage was initiated in 1980 with assistance from the UN Development Programme. The facility, based in the Comilla district, facilitates the storage of potatoes for farmers in the mid-eastern region of the country, as the area yields good harvests of potatoes but lacks adequate storage capacities. BRAC also offers the farmers loans equal to 40% of the total value of the potatoes they store to aid them financially.

Tea

BRAC Tea Estates were acquired in 2003 to provide a means of income generation. The surplus income is diverted to the development programmes. The estates cover four tea gardens in Chittagong district, employing 3,000 people.

Sericulture (Silkworm Cultivation)

The purpose of BRAC Sericulture is to organise women to undertake the following:

• mulberry cultivation
• silkworm & seed production
• reeling & spinning of silk yarn and
• weaving & marketing silk

The programme is currently working on introducing high yielding varieties of mulberry trees to areas in northern Bangladesh that suffer from seasonal famine each year.

Horticulture (Seed Production)

The objective of BRAC Horticulture is to produce high quality seedlings and make them available throughout the country. We also aim to increase the number of high quality trees through production, distribution and technological advances. In addition to the seed production centre in Bangladesh, BRAC is exploring opening research and production centres to complement its agricultural programmes in Tanzania and Uganda.

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