June 22, 2023 — Muscle Shoals, AL — In close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and USAID, the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) will implement the Feed the Future Bangladesh Climate-Smart Agriculture Project in 21 districts of the USAID Feed the Future Zone of Influence in Bangladesh. This new project continues a more than 40-year legacy of close collaboration between IFDC and the MOA.
In partnership with Action for Enterprise, IFDC will work with smallholder farmers in Bangladesh to strengthen food and agriculture production systems for resilient, inclusive, sustainable productivity growth, despite increasing shocks and stresses from climate change.
“We are excited about this new initiative that will help smallholder farmers in Bangladesh adapt their farming practices to meet climate change-related challenges,” said IFDC President and CEO Henk van Duijn. “By promoting private-sector-led climate-smart agriculture practices and technologies, we hope to improve food security, decrease poverty, increase income for smallholder farmers, and enhance the resilience of rural communities to climate change.”
The project’s fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) approaches will realize significant cost savings for the government of Bangladesh by reducing the burden of fertilizer subsidies. It will appraise opportunities for site-specific, bulk-blended fertilizers to achieve balanced fertilizer use, addressing secondary and micronutrient deficiencies. The project will also assess the potential for, and ramifications of, bio-fertilizer product use and the barriers to and opportunities for scaling fertilizer deep placement (FDP) technology.
Additionally, the project will share knowledge and build capacities surrounding climate-smart agriculture (CSA), including crop diversification, high-quality seed dissemination, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, improved water management, and integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) practices.
The project will encourage sustained adoption of CSA by partnering with the private sector to ensure farmers can access affordable, appropriate, climate-smart technologies, such as high-quality agricultural inputs. In addition, the initiative will encourage public officials to engage in public-private partnerships that promote agricultural development.
Since 1974, IFDC has worked to build a legacy of success, using innovative, climate-smart solutions to improve food security, increase resilience, and boost the livelihoods of producers around the globe. The Feed the Future Bangladesh Climate-Smart Agriculture project will build upon known and tested CSA technologies and practices to expand their adoption by smallholder farmers.
The Feed the Future Bangladesh Climate-Smart Agriculture project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, and led by key implementer IFDC with support from Action for Enterprise (AFE) and the local Ministry of Agriculture, including its research institutes and extension departments. The project is expected to run from 2023 to 2028, a total of five years.
For more information about the Feed the Future Bangladesh Climate-Smart Agriculture Project, please visit https://ifdc.org/projects/feed-the-future-bangladesh-climate-smart-agriculture-project/, where you may also contact the program leader.
Read the news release from the U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh.
The Feed the Future Bangladesh Climate-Smart Agriculture Project is one of the many assistance activities supported by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
