Bangladesh: Geodata for farmers

Agriculture in Bangladesh is characterized by a low productivity and farmer income, worsened by a vulnerability to climate change-related events. Due to increasingly erratic weather patterns, farmers experience difficulties in predicting weather conditions and planning production-related activities. The seed company Lal Teer aimed to respond to this problem by forming a consortium with other companies. This consortium uses spatial and other geodata for providing effective, time and location specific advisory services to smallholder farmers in Bangladesh. Advance Consulting assisted Lal Teer with setting up a consortium and developing a project proposal to acquire external financing from the G4AW programme.

The consortium aims to provide farmers with weather-related information, advice on the usage of seeds, land preparation, sowing, transplanting, irrigation, fertilizers and agro-chemicals, and advice on preventive and remedial measures for controlling pest and diseases. Farmers are informed through mobile phones, call centres, a website, app-based services as well as personal advice through extension officers and Lal Teer’s field staff. Since illiteracy rates are high and the usage of smartphones is limited, the network of extension officers will initially be the most important channel in conjunction with mobile phones. 

The consortium will use the network of extension officers and distribution partners of the applicant to enrol 330,000 farmers as users within 3 years, enabling the service to become economically viable. Throughout the project, the partners will encourage and expect the involved farmers to become more knowledgeable and technologically independent.

Thanks to its expertise in smart technology for agriculture and its experience in Bangladesh, Advance Consulting has successfully assisted Lal Teer in acquiring external financing from the G4AW programme. Refer to the website of G4AW or contact Suzana DjoDjo for more information on this project.