Two-thirds of Bangladesh is less than five metres above sea level and approximately 1,000 hectares of land is lost every year due to erosion.
Rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns, frequent flooding and loss of arable land are growing threats to food security. Bangladesh’s agricultural land is shrinking by 1% annually while the population is growing by 1.2%. Unpredictable weather conditions increasingly pose challenges to farmers trying to meet rising demands for food.
Building systems of production and distribution, offering quality seeds at fair prices and developing better crop varieties and practices. Developing and disseminating climate-smart agricultural technologies, and developing markets using an approach that encourages entrepreneurship and supports the country in becoming self-sufficient in food production.
IMPACT
444,000
people accessed agricultural services in 45 sub-districts.
56,600
women gained skills in nutri-gardening.
8,430
farmers gained skills in fish-rice-vegetable integration.
“BRAC has a long history of development work and commitment to food security and reduction of hunger and malnutrition through improved agricultural productivity”
“With its success in its value chain approach to agricultural development, BRAC as a strategic partner, will play a key role in attaining food security through improved agricultural productivity in coastal Bangladesh”
“BRAC’s agriculture and food security programme successfully implemented a crop intensification project to restore the livelihood of victims of cyclones Sidr and Aila, which affected the southern parts of Bangladesh. BRAC’s effort is undoubtedly exceptional and a milestone for others performing similar activities in this region.”
WHAT WE DO
Support farmers
Promote high-yield and sustainable agriculture technologies
Build resilience to climate change
Promote climate-resilient crop varieties and adaptive technologies
Nurture nourishment
Promote nutri-gardens as a means of crop diversification and to improve nutrition
Biodiversity conservation
Conserve rice and fish biodiversity to prevent extinction of indigenous breeds
Integrated aquaculture
Provide technical knowledge on diversified fish culture practices to maximise production
Community-based fish culture in floodplains
Promote seasonal floodplains to turn waste lands into resourceful water bodies
Women in agriculture
Promote seasonal floodplains to turn waste lands into resourceful water bodies
HOW WE DO IT
Improve cropping patterns
Increase cropping intensity and find appropriate cropping patterns for climate-vulnerable areas
Adaptive research for technology validation
Agronomic experiments and field trials to achieve food security and reduce hunger
Capacity development of farmers
Disseminate agricultural and aquaculture technologies, technical guidance, training and adoption of modern crop varieties
WHY IT WORKS
Location-specific cropping systems
Increase crop productivity through location-specific crops and provide appropriate technology recommendations
Farmer’s support centre
Agricultural information service, instant suggestions and extension activities to support farmers
Use of ICT
Comprehensive ICT platform for farmers to access and disseminate information on good practices
Make quality seeds accessible
Provide linkage to access quality seeds through training
