NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY PROJECT
Marrying agriculture with technology
Basic Information Start date: 7 February 2008 © Ismail Ferdous
End date: 31 December 2013 Total commitment: US$ 62.6 million
Implementing agency: Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries
Overview
Challenge
Agriculture and the rural non-farm economy, which together contribute 56 percent of the gross domestic product, are the main sources of livelihood for rural people. Raising agricultural productivity and improving the economy of the rural non-farm sectors is crucial to ensure food security, generate employment and reduce poverty in rural Bangladesh. The National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) aims to improve effectiveness of the technology used in agriculture to increase productivity and farm income, with a particular focus on small and marginal farms.
Agriculture in Bangladesh is characterized by small, rice-dominated farms, which have greatly contributed to increasing food self-sufficiency over the last 30 years. However, this self-sufficiency is continuously threatened by an increasing population and stagnating yields. At the heart of the problem is the “yield gap,” the difference between the amounts produced and the potential for production, which remains large as farmers fail to maximise the use of land. Weak technology carries much of the blame. Farmers lack the machinery and information systems to store their products postharvest or to process them into high value commodities such as fruit juice and jam. Lack of crop diversification, deteriorating and declining cultivable land as well as poor linkages to markets also play a crucial part. As a result, a lot of sale potential is lost.
36