Aapi bulletin vol 66 august2016(eng)

Feed the Future Bangladesh Accelerating Agriculture Productivity Improvement Activity

AAPI NEWS BULLETIN Volume

August 31, 2016

Inside this issue:

FDP Technology – New Hope for Vegetable and Other Crops

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AAPI Retailer Network Development for FDP Products During the Last Three Years

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AAPI News Bulletin is a monthly publication of the AAPI project.

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International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) is a Public International Organization (PIO) based in Alabama, USA. IFDC’s vision is a world of healthy, prosperous people who are well-served by productive agricultural systems functioning in harmony with the environment.

Managing Editor: Ishrat Jahan Resident Representative IFDC Bangladesh Eurasia Division and PC & COP, AAPI Design and Layout: Syed Afzal Hossain Data Management Unit, AAPI

Notes from Chief of Party, AAPI The rain continues as A us farmers struggle to harvest their crops and Aman farmers wait for the floods to subside. In the southern coastal districts, the floods started at the time of A man transplantation in July and never really let up. This has flooded seedbeds, delaying land preparation, transplantation, and deep placement of Guti fertilizer. Fortunately, farther north around Jessore, the weather has been more favorable, and a good Aman season is expected.

Aus harvest has begun, and the AAPI block survey and sample household survey are expected to conclude at the end of this month. As reported in earlier bulletins, the areas were down on average, but those who managed to plant a crop are getting good yields and once again fertilizer deep placement (FDP) technology is proving its worth.

We will report results next month.

The A man crop is now being transplanted, but as reported, weather is again playing games with our farmers. Unlike A us, Aman is an important food crop for all farmers, and they cannot afford to miss it.

Those in the south are being affected by flooding from high tides. While this is an annual event, the impact seems to worsen every year, as the hydrology of the rivers and canals change.

The project is also feeling the brunt of Mother Nature, and we have lost some Aus demonstrations to flood. This is not detrimental overall, because more

than 100 demonstrations have been established. Our site selection and geographic spread give us a degree of assurance that all will not be lost from one weather event.

This month, Badirul Islam, AAPI farming system specialist, has written an article on how the AAPI project is strengthening its activities by promoting good agricultural practices (GAPs), including FDP technology, in an evergrowing number of crops other than rice. Another article was written by Al Mobasher Hussen, training officer, on AAPI’s development of a retailer network over the last three years, which ensures the availability of FDP products near our farmers.

FDP Technology – New Hope for Vegetable and Other Crops Agriculture production in Bangladesh is gradually shifting from a single focus on rice to diversification with other higher value crops. Vegetables play a key role in this effort. A number of studies have shown that diversifying crop production from rice to highvalue vegetable crops can lead to a dramatic improvement in farmers’ economic well-being, particularly smallholder farmers. Since early 2000, vegetable production has increased fivefold, with Bangladesh experiencing the world’s third largest vegetable productivity gains per year from 2000 to 2010 (FAO). Similarly, vegetable consumption has also increased from 42 grams (gr) per person per day in

In collaboration with DAE This News Bulletin is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

AAPI NEWS BULLETIN AAPI News Bulletin Contact Person: Ishrat Jahan Address: Dhaka Office: Road No. 62, House No. 4B, Apt-B2 Gulshan - 2, Dhaka -1212 Bangladesh Tel: 880-2-9894288 880-2-58817391 Fax: 880-2-9846109 Website: www.aapi-ifdc.org www.ifdc.org Barisal Office: “Zohora” 834 (New) Police Line Road, Barisal Tel: 0431-2176566 Jessore Office: Jagorani Chakra Foundation (JCF) Building 46 Mujib Sarak Jessore 7400 Tel: 0421-60986

Volume 1994 to 166 gr per person per day.

According to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), the vegetable consumption requirement for a balanced diet is 225 gr per person each day. Therefore, Bangladesh still has a long way to go in increasing vegetable production.

The area and production of vegetables in Bangladesh over the last five years (2011-12 to 2015-16) are presented in Figure 1. It indicates that both have risen – from 0.74 million hectares (ha) to 0.83 million ha and 12.58 million tons to 15.26 million tons, respectively. With the increased use of higher quality hybrid seeds, efficient use of fertilizers, better water management, and integrated pest management (IPM) practices, vegetable growers are receiving higher yields and returns.

to different vegetables and other crops in the 2011-12 winter season.

In the beginning, eight vegetables and two other crops (banana and maize) were selected to promote with FDP technology. Based on the success, the project currently promotes GAPs, including FDP technology, in 16 vegetables and three other crops (banana, maize, and betel leaf).

Farmers are deep placing Guti urea in cabbage field at Gangni, Meherpur

Ram Proshad Ghosh, Mechanical Engineer;

Research results indicate that FDP technology enables a 15-36 percent increase in vegetable yields, with a 10 percent reduction in urea fertilizer use with the recommended broadcast application. The gross margin of these crops also increases when FDP technology is used instead of broadcasting nitrogen (N), phosphorus .

(P When practicing broadcast application of NPK fertilizers, vegetable growers’ outputs do not increase as expected.

Farmers are gradually shifting to FDP technology on vegetables and other crops in the AAPI project areas.

Farmers have also obtained 10-25 percent higher yields using 10-20 percent less fertilizer, especially urea, from other crops, such as watermelon, okra, papaya, guava, sunflower, pointed gourd, betel nut, jujube, and hog plum.

Rubina Islam, Gender Specialist;

Advantages of FDP Technology in Crops Other Than Rice

Syed Afzal Mahmood Hossain, Senior M&E and Data Management Specialist;

Farmers have shown a positive attitude toward using FDP in vegetables and other crops. According to them, the key advantages of the FDP technology are:  It improves nutrient use efficiency.

They need less urea compared to broadcast and therefore save on fertilizer cost.  Line planting of vegetables and

AAPI Management: Ishrat Jahan, Project Coordinator and Chief of Party; Dr. Shaharuk Ahmed, Md. Iqbal Hoque, Saleh Ahmed, Agriculture Specialists; Dr. Badirul Islam, Farming System Specialist; Mainul Ahsan, Soil Scientist; Dr Kshirode Chandra Roy, Agriculture Engineer;

AFM Saleh Chowdhury, Chief Accountant; Bishnu Rup Chowdhury, Administrative and Procurement Officer

Source: DAE

Figure 2 illustrates the increase in yields of all vegetables during the same time period from almost 17 tons/ha to more than 18 tons/ha.

However, yields of some vegetables have increased even more.

Source: DAE

The AAPI project is strengthening its activities by promoting GAPs, including FDP technology, in an ever -growing number of crops. The project began expanding its activities 2

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Volume nearly 15 percent more than that of the prilled urea field of the same size. Last winter (2015-16), he also used Guti urea in his cabbage and potato fields, resulting in higher yields.

other crops, combined with FDP technology, helps to avoid nutrient loss.

Production is increased compared to broadcast application.

Less pest, disease, and weed infestation occurs, thereby reducing production cost.

An earlier harvest is achieved in the case of cauliflower.

Crop maturity occurs seven to 10 days earlier, thus allowing farmers to receive a higher early market price.

Product size is uniform in the FDP plots.

Early harvest also means early release of land for the succeeding crop.

Like Kibria and Biswas, many farmers in AAPI districts are excited about the FDP technology in vegetable farming due to higher production of the high-value crops using less fertilizer, which brings higher incomes.

A number of farmers of Lebutola village of Sadar upazila, Jessore, received training from AAPI on GAPs and on the use of FDP in vegetables crops during 2011-12. Since then, they have used Guti urea in cabbage, cauliflower, eggplant, potato, and bitter gourd, receiving 10-20 percent higher yields using 10-15 percent less urea fertilizer. A few farmers also started a cropping pattern-based application of Guti urea in cabbage-potato-bitter gourd. They received much higher returns using the cropping pattern-based FDP technology. In 2014-15, 33 percent of the village’s farmers applied FDP technology in the cabbage-potatobitter gourd cropping pattern. The following table indicates that, with FDP technology in the cabbage -potato-bitter gourd cropping pattern, incremental production was 10-17 percent higher in FDP plots, using 15-33 percent less urea compared to the broadcast urea plots.

Over a five-year period, considerable progress has been achieved in AAPI locations, especially in the adoption of FDP technology in vegetables and other upland crops through demand-driven AAPI interventions (farmer training, focus group discussion [FGD], motivational meetings with farmers, motivational field visits, demonstrations, field days, and making Guti fertilizer available close to farmers through retailer networks). FDP coverage in vegetables and other crops increased, and farmers received higher returns.

Golam Kibria, a 35-year-old farmer in Meherpur Sadar upazila, knew about the benefits of Guti urea but had never used it in his field. The chance came during 2012-13 when his wife, Mariam Khatun bought a urea briquetting machine through the AAPI project and began manufacturing urea briquettes. In addition to using Guti urea in rice, he also applied it to his colocasia esculenta (taro) field on an experimental basis, and the result was astonishing.

Urea Used (kg/ha)

Cropping Pattern

Yield (mt/ha)

BroadBroadYield cast cast IncreFDP Urea Differ- Percent FDP Urea Differ- ment % Plots Plots ence Saved Plots Plots ence

Cabbage 400 Potato 360 Bitter Gourd 162

470 440 240

70 80 78

15 18 33

60.0 24.0 30.4

54.6 21.5 26.0

5.4 2.5 4.4

10 12 17

The table below shows gradual expansion of FDP technology in the Feed the Future districts in vegetable and other crops. This should help the farmers to increase vegetable production.

“Usually in the A us season, taro yield is around 50 maunds (one maund equals 40 kilogram [kg]) per bigha (33 decimals), but in the Guti urea field, it was 72.5 maunds,” said Kibria. “I also received a good price, selling taro from my 2.5 bigha of land at Bangladeshi Taka (Tk) 120,000 (U.S. $1,500).”

The taro yield and price were over 30 percent higher from the FDP field compared to that of the broadcast fertilizer field. “Also, it is very interesting that I applied only 65 kg of Guti urea on 2.5 bigha, while the same land earlier required nearly 200 kg of prilled urea,” the young farmer said, portraying the comparative picture of higher yields with less fertilizer.

Year

FDP Coverage (ha)

2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

712 5,075 11,013 18,836 16,997*

Remarks

Due to heavy rain and flood in September 2015, winter vegetables were badly affected.

Source: AAPI quarterly reports

FDP technology continuously shows its benefits as an effective, sustainable, and environmentally friendly technology that is suitable for Bangladeshi farmers to use not only in rice crops, but also in vegetable and other crops.

Lutfur Rahman Biswas, a farmer of Bagharpara upazila of Jessore district explained that he applied Guti urea in his teasel gourd field during the 2013 -14 Aus season. “The most important benefit of Guti urea use was that the size of all the gourds was uniform. They were big in size, and so were in more demand,” he said, adding that the yield from the 30-decimal FDP field was 40 maunds, which is

AAPI Retailer Network Development for FDP Products During the Last Three Years The AAPI project commenced on September 29, 2010. The project emphasizes technology diffusion 3

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and development of agricultural support systems to achieve sustainability. The primary technology supported under AAPI is FDP. The AAPI project incorporates market-driven concepts to address both supply and demand factors related to FDP technology diffusion. From the beginning, AAPI implemented various promotional events for motivating farmers in project locations to use and create demand for FDP products (Guti urea and NPK Guti), initially in rice crops and later in other crops. The project has also implemented a number of events to improve farmers’ access to FDP products: facilitating briquetting machine sales at a subsidized price; training the fertilizer briquetting machine owners (BMOs) on producing fertilizer briquettes, operation and maintenance of machines, and accounting and managing business; and training local mechanics on technical aspects of repairing fertilizer briquetting machines. While the BMOs complained about the absence of market demand and low profits, the farmers reported a lack of availability of fertilizer briquettes. AAPI conducted a survey on these issues in the different project locations. One finding of the survey was the unavailability of Guti fertilizer near the farmers, a major constraint to adopting FDP technology. In the AAPI project area, a few BMOs are successfully running their Guti fertilizer business because they have established a retailer network for selling their products, in addition to selling directly to the farmers. Farmers within the command area of those machines receive additional benefits and use more Guti fertilizer than those in other locations.

Also, FDP coverage was higher in these locations.

The survey further indicates that many farmers in remote villages now want to use Guti fertilizer in their crops. But unlike prilled urea and other fertilizers, Guti fertilizer is not always readily available. Thus, the AAPI project realized the need for a retailer network, building a business relationship between BMOs and fertilizer retailers to meet farmers’ demand for Guti fertilizers.

workers, since they are friends, family, and neighbors. Most of the farmers are linked with retailers and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) dealers. Farmers maintain good business relationships with the local retailers and BCIC dealers. Many farmers, especially smallholder farmers, purchase their inputs on credit from these dealers and retailers. The dealers/ retailers can, therefore, play an important role in motivating their clients (i.e., farmers) by enriching their own knowledge through this program. Then, they can explain the benefits of the FDP technology to their clients. At present, there are nine retailers in each union. Hence, the project is also organizing retailer/dealer training and motivational meetings to develop a retailer network for expansion of Guti urea. This is a valuable fertilizer distribution network that the project needs to utilize. Motivating them to stock and display FDP products (Guti urea and NPK Guti) in their shops will build a supply chain to the most remote locations, so that farmers can easily access the products.

Motivational meetings and trainings were held with about 6,500 retailers/dealers and local BMOs. Availability of fertilizer briquettes to farmers improved through the development of 433 networks and about 5,000 fertilizer sales centers.

AAPI follow-up on the trained retailers and monitoring of the networks found that the trainings/meetings created a positive impact on Guti fertilizer availability at the local retail level.

The briquette producers confirmed that the trained retailers had procured Guti fertilizer from them (BMOs) and sold Guti fertilizer during the cropping seasons. The attending briquette producers were also greatly encouraged, because BFA representatives and district/upazila fertilizer monitoring committee members instructed BCIC dealers to stock the necessary quantities of raw materials for Guti fertilizer production.

AAPI retailer network development over the last three years ensured the availability of FDP products, even in the remote areas. Guti production and the number of sales outlets have increased through network development in the project locations. Now, local fertlilizer retailers understand the benefits of FDP technology, both from a business and a technology point of view.

Retailers also realize Guti urea and NPK Guti are profitable and bring benefits not only to the customers, but also to the country. The fertilizer retailers and dealers see their FDP business as a social responsibility. BMOs are now happy with their increased fertilizer Guti production and profits compared with prilled urea/NPK fertilizer.

In the 2014 A man season, AAPI, in cooperation with the Bangladesh Fertilizer Association (BFA), began a fertilizer retailer training program to ensure a smooth supply of FDP products near the farmers who wished to purchase them. The training programs not only ensure the availability of FDP products, but also help build the retailers’ capacity to motivate the farmers to use and adopt FDP technology. AAPI conducted 159 training programs through June 2016 in the project locations. BFA contributed 25 percent of the total cost of the first 10 programs organized during the 2014 Aman season to support this AAPI initiative.

IFDC’s earlier experience showed that farmers listen to dealers and retailers more than extension 4