Promoting Agricultural Commercialization Enterprise (PACE) Project
Agriculture sector plays an important role in overall economic development of Bangladesh. Achieving the target of self-sufficiency in food is one of avowed goals of the present Government. To attain this goal the Government has placed highest importance on the overall development of agriculture sector. Out of 17 SDG Goals 9 Goals are related with agriculture. Achieving the target of self-sufficiency in food is one of the avowed goals of the present Government. The goal of ending poverty and hunger in terms with SDGs is highly linked with achieving self-sufficiency in food. But the sustainability is not only linked with increasing food production but also with ensuring food security. Bangladesh being an agricultural country mostly depends on the interventions of the agriculture sector as the contributions of the sector to GDP of the country is notably significant. The interventions are also important for determining food security and nutrition coverage for a large portion of our country people.
One of the major sub-sectors of agriculture is producing vegetable. It provides some of the essential micronutrients in our body. But the main obstacle in vegetable farming is the pests and the insects. Just these pests and insects alone reduce the production by 25%. This situation makes the cultivators depend on toxic chemical pesticides are in the dominant control tactic for managing agricultural pests in Bangladesh and there was a 5-fold increase in the use of all agricultural pesticides (insecticides, herbicides and fungicides) between 1990 and 2010. In this same survey the use of insecticides increased more than 20-fold. In order to control diseases and insects, farmers use irregular, unplanned and expired pesticides which do not destroy the harmful insects but make them tolerant to the pesticides and they have to use more and more pesticides. This results in financial loss as well as destruction of beneficial insects and increases the impact of harmful insects. This is detrimental to the ecosystem on the one hand and on the other hand this is very much troubling because insecticides are generally more toxic to human health. Neurotoxin insecticides, such as Organophosphates and carbamates, comprised 60.4% and 28.6%, respectively, of all pesticides in the survey. Many of these insecticides have been banned or severely restricted elsewhere in the world because of known health impacts that include Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukaemia, lung cancer, aplitic anaemia, fatal death, hormonal changes, birth defects and abnormal sperm, ovaries and eggs in humans. However, most of the problems mentioned can be solved by producing non-toxic vegetables.
With an aim of developing the value chain of safe vegetable and spice production, Ghashful as the partner of PKSF initiated the PACE project in 2017, at Hathazari Upozila of Chittagong District.The purpose of this project is to increase income of the farmer through value chain development of safe vegetable and spices production, especially red chili. Usually different kinds of traps (Pheromone Trap, Yellow Trap, Light trap, Trico grama Trap etc.) are used instead of any toxic chemical fertilizer. using these traps, insects will not be able to attack the crop and because no pesticides is used so the crops are not poisonous . It helps to restore the bio diversity of the land too.
Coverage Area and Targeted People:
3000 farmers at Hathazari Upozila
Goal:
PACE I
To increase the income of the farmer through value chain development of safe vegetable and spices production, especially red chili.
PACE II
To increase income of the farmer through technology development for cultivating high valued fruits and vegetable
Common Objectives
- Agricultural entrepreneur development
- New technology adoption
- Skilled manpower in Rural Agriculture
- Safe food supply
- Employment creation
- Income enhancement
Activities
PACE I
- Agricultural equipment and input supply
- Training on Safe food production
- Demonstration plot on Red Chili, Black pepper vegetable, Floating vegetable and fodder etc.
- Vermicompost demonstration
- Pheromone trap, Trichogramma, Bracon
- Exposure visit
- Safe vegetable sale center development
PACE II
- Equipment and input supply
- Training on Safe and high valued fruit production
- Demonstration plot on Barhi dates, Coconut, Avocado, Dragon, Coffee.
- Vermicompost production
- Exposure visit
- Fruits sell center development and online based sell as Shuponno (Quality production)
Exit Plan:
The value chain project connects farmers with various dealers, company representatives, government agriculture departments, buyers and organizations to solve technical problems as a result of this the farmers are able to go to the concerned person to solve their problems Moreover for use less and less harmful fertilizer and pesticide farmers are being able to get higher prices with low production. Even after the end of the project period, the farmers will be able to stay engage in safe vegetable cultivation on their own.
Future Plans of the Project:
By implementing various activities to ensure the quality of processing this sweet chili pepper it is possible to gain the confidence of the buyers. Hopefully the initiative will lead to success. In order to brand Hathazari red pepper under Pace project red chili cultivation are being exhibited for cultivation at farmer level. Various activities are being conducted regarding training, issue based discussion and wide publicity. The concept note of the project prepared by PKSF also shows that in the current market system there are initiatives to increase production as well as alternative market connectivity. Therefore, in the implementation of pepper processing initiatives under the value chain activities can also create competition in the sub-sector. New technologies, market theories and uninterrupted services need to be ensured for the farmers. In addition to our own supply chain, the concept note also includes plans for branding and marketing of products in international and national markets through PKSF.