M Yusuf Ali
Dr. MD. Yusuf Ali did his M. Sc. Agriculture (Agronomy) in 1983 from BAU, Mymensingh, Bangladesh and his Ph. D. in Agronomy under course credit system in 2000 from BSMRAU, Gazipur, Bangladesh with thesis research at ICRISAT, India. He worked as a scientist in the On-Farm Research Division (OFRD) of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) for 26 years. OFRD is mandated for conducting Farming System Research and Development across Bangladesh. During these periods he worked at different agro-ecological zones of Bangladesh including the Indo-Gangetic Basin. In OFRD he has conducted Farming Systems Research and Development works for the improvement of small and marginal farmer’s income, food security and overall livelihood through different agricultural technologies intervention, including maize, wheat and pulses-based cropping systems, field crops, homestead vegetables, high value vegetable crops, livestock, agroforestry, fisheries, management of water resource, appropriate off-farm activities and creation of marketing channel. In 2007 he worked at CIMMYT HQ, Mexico as Visiting Scientist and characterized the Maize-Rice systems of Bangladesh. From 2009-2010 he had worked for IRRI/CSISA project and started its Central Hub activities at Gazipur. From 2012-2014 he was engaged as Cropping Systems Agronomist of CIMMYT (ANEP project) in South-Central Bangladesh and successfully introduced maize, soybean and agricultural farm machinery including Axial flow pump for surface irrigation. From January 1, 2015 to December 2016 he was engaged as Focal Regional Research Manager of CGIAR funded program namely, Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) Ganges basin project under WorldFish/ International Water Management Institute in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. In 2017 he worked as a short-term consultant of WorldFish Bangladesh for its Climate Change and Food Security Program and characterized the socio-agro-climatic baseline of southern and central Bangladesh for developing climate resilient research and development action program entitled “Impact of climate change on natural resource bases and people’s livelihood of south western coastal region of Bangladesh and adaptation strategy in agricultural sector”. Currently he is working (from August 2018) as a part-time consultant of Niagara Textile group situated at Kaliakoir, Gazipur to transform and modify their big agricultural farm to sustainable, eco-friendly (using both ICM and IPM) and safe food production hub. Based on scientific evidence, food preference and market price he is conducting intervention in vegetable, fruit and maize production along with aquaculture, fodder production and dairying. He worked as a consultant of FAO, Bangladesh for its Dhaka Food System Project for writing a training module on home gardening and pertaining training to Dhaka/Gazipur city women and men. He has served as Consultant for Bangladesh Planning Commission through a consulting farm for developing Sector Action Plan (crop sector) for 8 th five years plan and for evaluating two different projects. He published 36 articles in the national and renowned international journals and three books.
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vulnerable country like Bangladesh. Its coastal southern region agriculture and peoples livelihood is mostly affected by recurrent
cyclone, tidal surge, flood, salinity and dearth of appropriate technology options to manage those. Applying climate smart agricultural
practices at community level could minimize the climate change related effects. Thus, climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices those
are used and developed by local community, innovator, extension workers and agricultural researchers are being collected through
desktop work, survey, field visit, personal communication and focus group discussion. Lastly through expert level workshop 41
CSA practices were selected under 13 major production systems. Through written questionnaire expert evaluated the production
practices and gave climate smartness score for each practice along with their impact on three pillars of CSA viz. productivity,
adaptation and mitigation. The major production systems were selected as per their contribution to food production and livelihoods.
Those production systems are T.aman rice, boro rice, aus rice, jute, spices, oilseeds, vegetable, wheat, pulses, maize, fruit, pond and
floodplain aquaculture, and livestock. Climate smartness score largely varied (0.60 to 3.93) because of positive, negative and neutral
effect on different criteria. However, most of the production practices have positive effect on production, adaptation and carbon
sequestration. Some have impact on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG). Therefore, adoption/adaptation of these production practices
would be instrumental to mitigate/minimize the detrimental effect of climate change towards achieving food security and to conduct
further research and development work.
Introduction
challenges. This study evaluated the effects of nitrogen (N) rate and source on the agronomic, economic,
and environmental performance of transplanted and rainfed ‘aman’ (monsoon-season) rice in Bangladesh’s nonsaline
coastal areas. Fifty-one farmers participated in trials distributed across two landscape positions described
as ‘highlands’ (on which field water inundation depth typically remains<30 cm) and ‘medium-highlands’
(inundation depths 30–90 cm) planted singly with varieties appropriate to each position (BRRI dhan 39 for
highlands and the traditional variety Bhushiara for lowlands). Researcher designed but farmer-managed dispersed
plots were located across three district sub-units (Barisal Sadar, Hizla, Mehendigonj) and compared N
source (broadcast prilled urea or deep-placed urea super granules (USG)) at four N rates. Rice grown on mediumhighlands
did not respond to increasing N rates beyond 28 kg N ha−1, indicating that little fertilization is required
to maintain yields and profitability while limiting environmental externalities. In highland locations,
clear trade-offs between agronomic and environmental goals were observed. To increase yields and profits for
BRRI dhan 39, 50 or 75 kg N ha−1 was often needed, although these rates were associated with declining energy
and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) efficiencies. Compared to prilled urea, USG had no impact on yield,
economic, energy and GHG efficiencies in medium-highland locations. USG conversely led to 4.2–5.8% yield
improvements at higher N rates on highlands, while also increasing energy efficiency. Given the observed yield,
agronomic and economic benefit of USG, our preliminary results that farmers can consider use of USG at 50 kg N
ha−1 to produce yields equivalent to 75 kg N ha−1 of prilled urea in highland landscapes, while also reducing
environmental externalities. These results suggest that when assessing sustainable intensification (SI) strategies
for rice in South Asia’s coastal zones, N requirements should be evaluated within specific production contexts
(e.g. cultivar type within landscape position) to identify options for increasing yields without negatively influencing
environmental and economic indicators. Similar studies in other parts of coastal South Asia could help
policy-makers prioritize investments in agriculture with the aim of improving rice productivity while also
considering income generation and environmental outcomes.
Climatic data revealed that there was no trend in rainfall over the years but variability among the year is prominent. South central Patuakhali has more average rainfall having six months >200 mm rainfall (May-October) while November to March is mostly dry period. While for Mongla (Bagerhat) > 200 mm rainfall is for 4 months (June-September) and dry months are five (Nov-March). For Satkhira the far south-west of Bangladesh >200 mm rainfall is only for four months (June-Sept) and dry period is maximum six months (Nov-April). Thus rainfall gradually decreased from eastern part to western part. There was also no trend in maximum or minimum temperature but April-May was the hottest months and Nov-March is suitable for growing high value rabi crops along with boro rice planting in late January. Cultivable lands are becoming more saline over the years along which high degree of salinity where crop growth is limited. In rabi season most of the land still remains fallow following T.aman for different reasons, though there is agronomic potentiality to grow high value crops in this season. Farmers and businessmen have developed different innovative measure to cope with the changing environment, water level and salinity. Some are good without damaging ecosystems and food security such as mixed Gher where fish, shrimp, rice and vegetable is grown at a time but brackish water shrimp Gher is badly damaging the whole ecosystems rendering the small and marginal farmers poorer and diseased losing all other livelihood options mostly promoted by outsider big businessmen. Researchers of different research institutions have developed good number of saline and heat tolerant cultivars of different crops including boro rice, wheat, homestead vegetable model, tower system of vegetable production and dozens of other crops and agronomic techniques which minimize the effect of salinity, water logging and water stress. Ring slab set in tidally flooded crop field saves the brooding fish and fish fry from extinction. For adaptation and dissemination of climate smart agriculture recommendation has been suggested for selecting climate smart villages in coastal region.
Based on FGD and associated information for haor area of Kishoreganj (central Bangladesh) socio-agro-economic condition has been described along with technology options for improvement in agriculture sector
.So far drought resistance breeding work is based on several phenological, morphological, and physiological traits such as, shorter life cycle, early vigor, deep root systems, thick cuticle, osmotic adjustment, transpiration efficiency , harvest index etc. It is also observed that there are genotypic variations among the cultivars of a crop in respect to drought resistance criteria. Proper selection has helped to develop some crops with improved yield under water-limited environment. Phenology, deep rooting, water use efficiency and harvest index appears to be favorably used for more efficient crops.
Recently scientists are trying to use molecular techniques breeding for improved drought resistance. However, drought resistance is not controlled by a single gene, therefore, so far progress is less.
vulnerable country like Bangladesh. Its coastal southern region agriculture and peoples livelihood is mostly affected by recurrent
cyclone, tidal surge, flood, salinity and dearth of appropriate technology options to manage those. Applying climate smart agricultural
practices at community level could minimize the climate change related effects. Thus, climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices those
are used and developed by local community, innovator, extension workers and agricultural researchers are being collected through
desktop work, survey, field visit, personal communication and focus group discussion. Lastly through expert level workshop 41
CSA practices were selected under 13 major production systems. Through written questionnaire expert evaluated the production
practices and gave climate smartness score for each practice along with their impact on three pillars of CSA viz. productivity,
adaptation and mitigation. The major production systems were selected as per their contribution to food production and livelihoods.
Those production systems are T.aman rice, boro rice, aus rice, jute, spices, oilseeds, vegetable, wheat, pulses, maize, fruit, pond and
floodplain aquaculture, and livestock. Climate smartness score largely varied (0.60 to 3.93) because of positive, negative and neutral
effect on different criteria. However, most of the production practices have positive effect on production, adaptation and carbon
sequestration. Some have impact on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG). Therefore, adoption/adaptation of these production practices
would be instrumental to mitigate/minimize the detrimental effect of climate change towards achieving food security and to conduct
further research and development work.
Introduction
challenges. This study evaluated the effects of nitrogen (N) rate and source on the agronomic, economic,
and environmental performance of transplanted and rainfed ‘aman’ (monsoon-season) rice in Bangladesh’s nonsaline
coastal areas. Fifty-one farmers participated in trials distributed across two landscape positions described
as ‘highlands’ (on which field water inundation depth typically remains<30 cm) and ‘medium-highlands’
(inundation depths 30–90 cm) planted singly with varieties appropriate to each position (BRRI dhan 39 for
highlands and the traditional variety Bhushiara for lowlands). Researcher designed but farmer-managed dispersed
plots were located across three district sub-units (Barisal Sadar, Hizla, Mehendigonj) and compared N
source (broadcast prilled urea or deep-placed urea super granules (USG)) at four N rates. Rice grown on mediumhighlands
did not respond to increasing N rates beyond 28 kg N ha−1, indicating that little fertilization is required
to maintain yields and profitability while limiting environmental externalities. In highland locations,
clear trade-offs between agronomic and environmental goals were observed. To increase yields and profits for
BRRI dhan 39, 50 or 75 kg N ha−1 was often needed, although these rates were associated with declining energy
and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) efficiencies. Compared to prilled urea, USG had no impact on yield,
economic, energy and GHG efficiencies in medium-highland locations. USG conversely led to 4.2–5.8% yield
improvements at higher N rates on highlands, while also increasing energy efficiency. Given the observed yield,
agronomic and economic benefit of USG, our preliminary results that farmers can consider use of USG at 50 kg N
ha−1 to produce yields equivalent to 75 kg N ha−1 of prilled urea in highland landscapes, while also reducing
environmental externalities. These results suggest that when assessing sustainable intensification (SI) strategies
for rice in South Asia’s coastal zones, N requirements should be evaluated within specific production contexts
(e.g. cultivar type within landscape position) to identify options for increasing yields without negatively influencing
environmental and economic indicators. Similar studies in other parts of coastal South Asia could help
policy-makers prioritize investments in agriculture with the aim of improving rice productivity while also
considering income generation and environmental outcomes.
Climatic data revealed that there was no trend in rainfall over the years but variability among the year is prominent. South central Patuakhali has more average rainfall having six months >200 mm rainfall (May-October) while November to March is mostly dry period. While for Mongla (Bagerhat) > 200 mm rainfall is for 4 months (June-September) and dry months are five (Nov-March). For Satkhira the far south-west of Bangladesh >200 mm rainfall is only for four months (June-Sept) and dry period is maximum six months (Nov-April). Thus rainfall gradually decreased from eastern part to western part. There was also no trend in maximum or minimum temperature but April-May was the hottest months and Nov-March is suitable for growing high value rabi crops along with boro rice planting in late January. Cultivable lands are becoming more saline over the years along which high degree of salinity where crop growth is limited. In rabi season most of the land still remains fallow following T.aman for different reasons, though there is agronomic potentiality to grow high value crops in this season. Farmers and businessmen have developed different innovative measure to cope with the changing environment, water level and salinity. Some are good without damaging ecosystems and food security such as mixed Gher where fish, shrimp, rice and vegetable is grown at a time but brackish water shrimp Gher is badly damaging the whole ecosystems rendering the small and marginal farmers poorer and diseased losing all other livelihood options mostly promoted by outsider big businessmen. Researchers of different research institutions have developed good number of saline and heat tolerant cultivars of different crops including boro rice, wheat, homestead vegetable model, tower system of vegetable production and dozens of other crops and agronomic techniques which minimize the effect of salinity, water logging and water stress. Ring slab set in tidally flooded crop field saves the brooding fish and fish fry from extinction. For adaptation and dissemination of climate smart agriculture recommendation has been suggested for selecting climate smart villages in coastal region.
Based on FGD and associated information for haor area of Kishoreganj (central Bangladesh) socio-agro-economic condition has been described along with technology options for improvement in agriculture sector
.So far drought resistance breeding work is based on several phenological, morphological, and physiological traits such as, shorter life cycle, early vigor, deep root systems, thick cuticle, osmotic adjustment, transpiration efficiency , harvest index etc. It is also observed that there are genotypic variations among the cultivars of a crop in respect to drought resistance criteria. Proper selection has helped to develop some crops with improved yield under water-limited environment. Phenology, deep rooting, water use efficiency and harvest index appears to be favorably used for more efficient crops.
Recently scientists are trying to use molecular techniques breeding for improved drought resistance. However, drought resistance is not controlled by a single gene, therefore, so far progress is less.
Observing the success of Northwest Crop Diversification Project (NCDP) government undertook similar project in Southwest and Northwest region of Bangladesh, namely Second Crop Diversification Project (SCDP) in 52 Upazilas of 27 districts with the funding of ADB. Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) implemented this Second Crop Diversification Project as lead agency sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), while Bangladesh Bank was responsible for credit part. The duration of the project was July 2010 to June 2017. The proposed output of SCDP was to: Increase sustainable HVC production and commercialization;reduction of HVCs post-harvest losses, improve product quality, value addition and efficient market;enhanced capacity of public sector institutions and participating partners in supporting farmers to increase their incomes;increased participation of women in commercial agricultural activities.
Original estimated budget of the project was 34978.34 lakh Taka, but later on revised budget was 41523.83 lakh Taka (GOB-9649.35 lakh Taka and project help-ADB-31874.48 lakh Taka). Against the total target expenditure was 41213.83 lakh Taka. Up to June 2017 cumulative economic progress of the project budget was 99.25 %. Actual expenditure was 17.8 % more than original estimated budget and 0.75 % less than revised budget, i.e. 187.81 lakh Taka was unspent.
Secondary information revealed that project field implementation was delayed by more than one year due to late recruitment of national and international consultants, as recruiting process was somewhat cumbersome. For the same reason procurement of vehicles and equipment was also delayed along with late finishing of OFSSI and other buildings. Vehicles, training equipment and agricultural machinery and office buildings and other installations enhanced the capacity of local DAE offices to deliver the project work more efficiently. Vehicles and other equipment are almost in good condition and currently used by bridging project and other offices of DAE.
Two years after the completion of the project the IMED of Ministry of Planning decided to study the impact of the project for future use. Through the bidding process Creative Consultant International Ltd. was selected to conduct the evaluation within four months (January 2019 to April, 2020). The objective of this assignment was to conduct Impact Evaluation of the project in all aspects in collaboration with project personnel and all potential stakeholders. It is assumed that findings of the study would be helpful to dig out the effectiveness of the project, how far changes created in producing high value crops, livelihood improvement of beneficiaries along with pin pointing the gaps which were the impediments to achieve the expected benefits. Through this study recommendations made by the consulting firm would give a guideline to direct the project on right track and help to implement similar project efficiently in future.
Both secondary and primary data were collected to assess the project performance along with discussing with former two Project Directors of SCDP and Credit Management officer under DAE. The study was conducted in randomly selected 26 Upazilas of 26 districts having 910
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sample sizes for farmer’s survey through structured questionnaire along with 5 FGD with farmers where 60 stakeholders attended. Additionally, KII was done with 26 Upazila Agriculture Officers (field level focal point) and 26 officers of loan distributing NGO (BRAC).Additionally all available project documents (DPP, PCR, Base line survey) were browsed and analyzed. ADB provided Base line report. “Before” (Base line of SCDP) and “After” (survey result) method was used to analyze the outcome of the project (where applicable) and comparison was also shown with BBS data in some cases. The collected farmer’s survey data was analyzed by SPSS program and furnished in tabular and graphical forms.
From the above mentioned data analyses it was evident that SCDP succeeded to create significant impact on diversification of crops through high value crop (HVC) options. Most of the project beneficiary (94 %) was from marginal, small and medium group of farmers as like the project target. However, 6 % was from large group of farmer. Both male (53.8%) and female (46.2%) farmers was included in the project. Selected farmers were from productive age range (20-60 years). Major portions (71%) of the farmers have only 1-8 class of education.
Almost all SCDP farmers established fruit garden in a portion of their land and they used their 69 % land for growing HVC, while base farmers used only 4.3% of their land for the same. Due to diversification through HVCs, cropping intensity (CI) of SCDP farmers increased markedly and reached-230% which was 20 % more than base line time CI while Bangladesh national average CI was only 194 % in 2017. This resulted in increase of farmers yearly income by 41% (267, 377 Taka/year) compared to Base year (190, 08 Taka/year). About 98 % farmers were satisfied with their production and economic returns. Market price of HVCs were fluctuating, still 86 % farmers opined it as good. Performance of OFSSI centers established through SCDP for marketing still to be improved to create impact on getting fair market price by the farmers. Training, field days and motivational tours have helped the farmers to be acquainted with many new crops, modern varieties and packages of technology for achieving high and economic yields. Post-harvest losses of crops were markedly reduced through project activities. In fruit it was 18.28% less, for vegetable it was also 18.44 % less and for spices crop it was 9.32 % less than Base year mentioned loss. Credit was important for production of HVC, as its production cost is comparatively more than traditional rice crop. Thus 77.3 % farmers took loan. About 80 % farmers expressed concern that interest rate of loan was high. All farmers agreed that vegetable and fruit intake was increased as they produced themselves resulted in better family nutrition. They also believe that their social status was improved (98 %) through this project. They also opined that 65% additional employments were generated through SCDP activities due to intensive cultivation and more production.It was estimated that 12-15 % women were directly involved in commercial agriculture through SCDP activities. SCDP had become instrumental to improve the overall livelihoods of the cooperating farm families. However, challenges to sustain this progress depends on availability of quality seeds, suitable crop/varieties, appropriate packages of technologies with research system back-up, hands-on training, value-addition, justified market price and soft credit options for coping with on-going climate change and climatic variations.
On-line knowledge management of the project should be strengthened. Web site of the project (www.scdp.gov.bd) is not active now. For dissemination of technology and for training of farmers and extension workers all training manual/module/guideline/video prepared for the project should be uploaded to the project web site for long term use.
Through analyzing from different aspects it seems SCDP was a successful project. It was proved through growing high value crops farmers’ income and livelihoods could be improved significantly. Similar type of project should be implemented for long term basis in near future.
Deficiencies in vitamin C, iron and various minerals are widespread, resulting in different diseases, hampering physical growth and retarding brain development. This situation is aggravated during natural disasters or crises, such as the present COVID-19 pandemic.
Although growing vegetables and fruits on homesteads is a traditional practice across Bangladesh, many families living on landholdings use little or none of their land to grow food. Those who do grow food on their homesteads are largely unfamiliar with modern, scientific agricultural technology, so their production is minimal.
This underutilized farmland could be brought under year-round fruit and vegetable cultivation, with the potential to contribute greatly to reducing the problems of food insecurity and malnutrition, especially among families who have little or no cash to purchase food.
Gazipur is the largest city corporation in the country, with a population of four million people. Although many of Gazipur’s families live in urban areas with no land, there are many families with homesteads in peri-urban and rural areas. Like in the rest of the country, much of the available land on the homesteads is unused or underused for producing food.
The present participatory, hands-on training manual has been developed to train women volunteers from Gazipur City Town Federation in science-based fruit and vegetable gardening. The manual draws from homestead gardening models developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) for the utilization of all the homestead’s unused spaces to produce quick-growing fruits and vegetables suitable to the local conditions (Ali et al., 2008). Even for families who already have vegetable gardens, the introduction of improved practices can make a big difference in their productivity (AVRDC, 2015).
It is important to note that the town federations are the highest level of community organization in the cities of Bangladesh and are change agents for thousands of poor urban people. However, in order for them to realize their potential to improve conditions in the country, they need knowledge and technology to deal with issues such as the one addressed by this manual: improving basic family nutrition through modern home gardening. The present Homestead Gardening manual will serve to build awareness among town federation leaders regarding the need to produce and consume vegetables and fruits and will develop their capacity to successfully practice homestead gardening and scale up the practice among communities, particularly by working with women.
• The agricultural sector in Bangladesh has grown steadily in recent years, driven by an increase in productivity and efficiency achieved through investments in improved technology and mechanization supported by conducive public policies. This has led to considerable improvements in food security as well as rural poverty reduction. 90% of this reduction in the past five years can be attributed to increased farm income.
• Agriculture in the country is characterized by subsistence production systems largely dominated by small and marginal farmers, yet a significant shift towards commercial farming with high value crops, fisheries and animal products has been evident in recent years. This is expected to contribute to further poverty reduction through improvements in health, nutrition and education outcomes in Bangladesh.
• Given its abundant water resources, rice paddy production under irrigated conditions is the top contributor to agricultural GHG emissions in Bangladesh. In an effort to reduce these emissions and other environmental impacts, farmers are increasingly applying alternative wetting and drying (AWD) methods of irrigation wetting and drying methods of irrigation, using deep placed briquetted urea fertilizer, moving to non-rice crops and incorporating straw stubbles in to rice paddies as an alternative to burning crop residues—the latter contributing to soil organic matter replenishment.
• Climate-smart agricultural strategies that address saline intrusion (up to 8 km by 2030) resulting from sea level rise and tropical storm swells are especially critical in Bangladesh where many smallholders occupy lowlying, flood prone deltas. CSA interventions can draw on traditional practices like the Sorjan system (tall beds for vegetable and crop production alternating with furrows suitable for submergence tolerant crops and fish production) as well as new practices like vertical gardens. Floating bed cultivation of vegetables in the low lying southern districts, homestead production and roof top gardening of fruits and vegetables are also spreading rapidly.
• The lack of accessible and reliable climate information among farmers represents a considerable challenge to the scaling out of CSA practices. Strengthening climate information services and making them easily accessible to farmers would greatly improve their capacity to adapt farming practices. For instance, salt intrusion into irrigation canals prevents their use for commercial or household gardening in the southern regions of Bangladesh. Knowing where and when intrusion will occur through the use of simple salinity meters would allow farmers to make crop choices and also plan for appropriate response and mitigation strategies.
• Limited financial capital for CSA investments and related activities remains a constraint for many farmers in Bangladesh. Climate index insurance models, for example, have not proven successful at scale. Microcredit has been insufficient in boosting agricultural sector growth as many CSA activities require more macro-credit (e.g. conservation machinery). However, several low risk interventions like pond excavation and ghers (paddy and aquaculture ponds with tall dikes for vegetable production) are more likely to be eligible for commercial funding. Improvements in agro-meteorological services are essential for increased private sector investment in agriculture. More information on the long-term impacts of such investments on natural landscapes is needed in order to ensure sustainability.
• New forms of CSA as well as innovative production systems finance need to be explored, including the allocation of domestic funding for priority CSA interventions and strengthening cooperation with development partners to access funds for CSA activities. At the same time, private sector engagement in impact investment initiatives holds considerable potential for advancing the CSA agenda. Creating an enabling environment for private capital will require improved coordination between the ministries involved in climate change planning in Bangladesh.
First we need to consider what Bangladesh does currently with those food/feed products and then how much we really produce. Those products are mainly used as livestock and fish feed and sometimes as human food. Bangladesh has a huge deficit in animal protein production. Presently our yearly demand for milk is 13.01 million ton but we produce only 2.65 million ton, our demand for meat is 6.25 million ton whereas we produce merely 1.04 million ton, demand for eggs is 14,828 million (number) but we produce only 5,654 million, demand for fish is 2.55 million ton but production is 2.33 million ton. Those figures are for 160 million people, which were elevated by another 1.5 million in 2017. If we compare us with USA then we are in a world of fools’ paradise. USA produces 312 million ton maize per year while we produce only 2.7 million ton. USA is the major exporter of maize across the world market whereas we still import at least 1 million ton/year. We still import over a million ton of rice and 4.5 million ton of wheat. Really our rice food security remains fragile with about 21 million people living below the poverty line and another few millions on the verge of poverty. Any big natural disaster or climate change effect (like blast disease in Boro rice in northern Bangladesh) can markedly worsen food security. Any price hike of food products affect the marginal people most adversely making them more vulnerable to hunger, malnutrition and disease.
For producing 13.8 billion gallon ethanol/year the USA government provided a subsidy of USD 16.2 billion. Is Bangladesh going to subsidize the above company to produce ethanol? Currently 40 % maize grown in the USA is used for ethanol. Though ethanol is environment friendly compared to fossil fuel it is 50 % less energy efficient than fossil fuel. 1.5 liter of bio-ethanol will be needed for replacing 1 liter of gasoline.
My understanding is that the policy decision to produce ethanol has been taken only by the Energy Ministry, but really it is an inter-ministerial matter. I believe Agriculture, Food, Livestock and Fisheries Ministries should have great concern about this matter. Moreover, farmers, commercial farms and people from all walks of life have expressed serious concern about this decision (as reported by Thompson Reuters). Competitiveness to produce milk, meat, and fish depends on supply of feed products at a fair price. Farmers often complain about excessive feed and medicine cost for livestock and fish production. I apprehend that a vested interested group may be active in the Energy Ministry without considering people’s livelihood and national wellbeing. I therefore appeal to the concerned authority and those dignitaries and politicians who have access to policy makers, to explain the consequences of increasing ethanol production in Bangladesh and pressurize the Energy Ministry to reconsider their biofuel policy..
It may be mentioned that the decision of President Bush in 2007 to produce ethanol from corn is not accepted by a major group of scientists and environmentalists, as it harms world food security. Rather many of them suggest adoption of Japanese technology so that fuel efficiency of vehicles is enhanced, which can reduce overall fossil fuel demand. We can cite two observations of US scientists:
• Indeed, a study published by the National Academy of Sciences, USA found that neither ethanol nor biodiesel can replace much petroleum without having an impact on food supply. If all American corn and soybean production were dedicated to biofuels, that fuel would replace only 12 %of gas demand and 6 %of diesel demand, the study notes.
• The Minnesota researchers write that with a projected doubling of global demand for food within 50 years and an even greater expected increase in demand for transportation fuels, “there is a great need for renewable energy supplies that do not cause significant harm and do not compete with food supply.”
The IPCC was quite diplomatic in its discussion, saying “Biofuels have direct, fuel‐cycle GHG emissions that are typically 30–90% lower than those for gasoline or diesel fuels. However, since for some biofuels indirect emissions—including from land use change—can lead to greater total emissions than when using petroleum products, policy support needs to be considered on a case by case basis” (IPCC 2014 Chapter 8).
It may be mentioned that development of biofuels occurred mainly to mitigate fluctuations in global oil prices, to enhance national self-sufficiency in fuel for transport and, latterly, to help combat global climate change which is exacerbated by greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. However, other options for transport fuel are becoming increasingly viable, in terms of technological feasibility and cost. Electric-powered vehicles are predicted to become dominant within the next decade (https://cleantechnica.com/2016/11/22/electric-car-revolution-will-accelerate-soon-predicts-morgan-stanley-report/) and hydrogen powered vehicles are becoming increasingly feasible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle). It is therefore recommended that the Energy Ministry focus on latest developments in these technologies, which would most likely be attractive to development assistance. It may be pointed out that Bangladesh is indeed a leader in development of electric vehicles. With pollution restrictions on autorickshaws not so many years ago innovative autorickshaw drivers installed truck batteries in their autorickshaws to make them electric-powered. And it is becoming increasingly feasible and economically viable to generate electricity through renewable sources, such as solar and wind, to make transport free from dependence on fossil fuels and thus of greenhouse gas emissions.
Corresponding Email: yusuf709@gmail.com)
Research and development activities over the last four decades to alleviate these constraints are evaluated. Ever increasing demand for rice in Bangladesh has prompted double cropping of rainy season rice followed by irrigated post-rainy season rice. However, such double cropping further deteriorates soil properties, depletes groundwater reserves and is only marginally remunerative for resource-poor farmers. With appropriate agronomy and cultivar introduction various post-rainy season crops, including wheat, pulses, oilseeds and vegetables, can be more remunerative. Present status and future options for tree cultivation, livestock husbandry and homestead development are also given. Conservation agriculture techniques for soil improvement and improved methods of water capture and use are elaborated.
Through soil improvement, better management of water, appropriate crop rotation and effective exploitation of solar energy and communications technology it is envisioned that this region can become a sustainably productive agricultural region with substantially improved livelihoods for its inhabitants. This overview provides a case study applicable to other distinct agro-ecosystems cleared of natural vegetation for agriculture, resulting in a deterioration of natural resources, but its restoration through agronomic and other measures.