Countries - Bangladesh1

BANGLADESH
National IPM Programme

Facts and figures

Operational since: 1981 Concept IPM introduced through FAO’s Inter-Country IPM programme with FFS training from 1990 onwards.
FFS diversification (e.g. vegetables, cotton) and upscaling from 1996 onwards with support from FAO-Regional Vegetable and Cotton IPM, UNDP-FAO IPM Project, DANIDA-AEC, ADB and CARE.

Implementing agencies:

Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI)
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC)
Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU)
Cotton Development Board (CDB)
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB)
CARE Bangladesh
Local CSOs: Unnayan Dhara, Banchte Sheka, Proshika

Partners & Donors:

FAO and its donors (Netherlands, Australia)
UNDP
DANIDA (Present)
European Union (EU)
USAID (Present)
DIFID
Asian Development Bank
International Fund for Agricultural Development
Government of Bangladesh (Present)

FFS conducted: Approximately 35,000
Farmers trained: ± 875,000 (8-10 % female)
Trainers active: 900 DAE trainers (1% female)
1,200 Farmer Trainers (7% female)

Main crops:
Rice, vegetables (egg plant, cauliflower, cabbage, cucurbits, beans
and potato), cotton, and fruits.

Achievements:
Bangladeshi farmers have benefited substantially from participation in FFS-based IPM training. FFS-trained farmers have become ecology-literate and have learned to conserve and make sustainable use of natural biological control systems in various crops. FFS farmers also benefit from cost saving, resulting from reduced use of pesticides, and higher yields, resulting from better crop management. Impact assessment studies done by Bangladesh Rice Research Institute reveals that the IPM trained rice farmers have cut their use of pesticides by 90% with an increase of crop yield by 10%. Studies done by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute show that IPM trained vegetable (eggplant) farmers have reduced the use of pesticides on an average by 75% with an increase of crop yield by 12%. As a result, the profit margin of the IPM-FFS trained farmers has increased substantially compared to conventional farmers. With the reduction of pesticide use IPM also contributes to pesticide risk reduction and less poisoning incidents and environmental pollution in rural communities. By September 2011, about 875,000 farmers (7.4% of the 11.8 million farming families in Bangladesh) will have benefited from IPM/ICM-FFS training.

Sustainability:
Realizing the importance of IPM, the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) has developed a national Integrated Pest Management Policy. The Policy will pursue two main strategies, a) to expand IPM on a sustainable basis by establishing a national IPM programme; and b) to facilitate co-ordination of all IPM activities in Bangladesh.

The IPM policy also calls for better pesticide regulation and enforcement thereof. GOB has banned all WHO Class 1a (extremely hazardous) pesticide formulations for use in agriculture and is progressively facing out registration of all Class 1b (highly hazardous) products.

The government has given emphasis on IPM and this is reflected in the national Agricultural Policy. In all the donor funded IPM projects, the government supported about 10% of the total budget. Moreover, the government is also implementing an IPM project through its own funding which amounts to 148.5 million taka (US $ 2.2 million).

The FFS is now considered by the government and various civil society organizations as an effective vehicle for extension and farmer education. The establishment of IPM clubs (IPM farmers associations) at the end of the FFS season has greatly facilitated sustainability of benefits obtained by farmers from FFS training. DANIDA, through its Agricultural Extension Component (AEC), encourages these clubs/farmer groups to further organize at union, upazila (sub-district) and district levels to protect their interests and rights. These Unions have benefited from short training on organisational management and small business development. Farmer trainers can play a major role in upscaling of FFS training. Hence, a total of about 3,900 farmer trainers have benefited from rice and vegetable IPM training, of which some 2,000 farmer trainers are now actively involved in FFS training.

Innovations
In recent years, the DANIDA funded Agricultural Extension Component (AEC) promotes Integrated Crop Management through FFSs. Generally, two participants (1 male, 1 female) from the same household participate in such ICM-FFS. Moreover, to accommodate new topics, the number of ICM FFS sessions has been increased from 14 to 20 (11 sessions only for men, 4 sessions only for women and 5 combined sessions plus one plenary field day) whereas the GOB IPM project still implements the 14 sessions curriculum (>90% male farmers). New topics have been included in ICM FFS curriculum especially for women, such as nutrition, use of farm yard manure and homestead gardening. For male rice farmers the curriculum is now broader with stronger emphasis on use of quality seed, improving soil health and fertilizer management. In commemoration of the Internal Year of the Potato 2008, the AEC project, with FAO Regional Vegetable IPM technical assistance, initiated a pilot potato IPM curriculum development and FFS
scheme in North and North-West Bangladesh.

The AEC project promotes the establishment of farmers’ club when the FFS is completed. This makes the training –and benefits obtained thereof- more sustainable. Club members make annual work plans to continue ICM activities and to include income generating activities. Clubs can apply to AEC for some funding for additional training or to start income generating activities. To make the village based clubs stronger, attempts have been made by AEC to encourage these clubs to form an association at union, upazila (subdistrict) and district level. If several clubs are present in the same union (sub- sub- district) they are supported to form together a Union Farmers Association (UNFA). This will promote collaboration between clubs and facilitates exchange of experiences and support from stronger to weaker clubs. With the support of AEC about 1,000 Union Farmers’ Associations have already been formed and it is expected that another 1,500 such associations will have been formed by December 2009. One private company has started rearing and marketing of parasitoids for use by farmers in support of strengthening biological control systems. Public research institutions emphasise support for development of alternatives (e.g. bio-pesticides) for pest management. With the increase of export of vegetables and concerns for food safety, Government and also private sector partners are developing Good Agricultural Practice programmes and market access initiatives, primarily for exportable vegetables. FAO’s Food Security Project will be working through FFS approaches in northern districts where AEC also operates. As FFS approach has become popular among the donors and also the Government, Livestock and Fisheries Component (RFLDC) of ASPS-II has started to use FFS to train their target groups.

For further information: An IPM farmers club in Bangladesh
http://www.dae.gov.bd/
http://www.vegetableipmasia.org/Countries/bangladesh.htm