New USAID project to boost agri-innovation and tech diffusion in Bangladesh

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has rolled out its new ‘Feed the Future Asia Regional Innovative Farmers Project’ at the Agriculture Innovation Summit in Dhaka.

The project launched on Tuesday, the US aid agency said, would help farmers produce “the quantities and quality needed to earn income sustainably”.

Millions of smallholding farmers in South and Southeast Asia are attempting to diversify beyond staple crops to increase their incomes, nutrition, and resilience in response to climate change and shifting market demand.

They are potentially significant producers of fresh vegetables and farmed fish, but most smallholders lack access to technologies that would help them produce the quantities and quality needed to earn a sustainable income.

The new project would address the issue and help them generate more income.

Implemented by Winrock International, the regional project will increase food security, reduce poverty, and improve environmental sustainability by facilitating agricultural innovation and technology diffusion in several countries in Asia including Bangladesh.

To disseminate agricultural knowledge and expertise among the Asian countries, this new project will create competitions to discover the most promising technologies.

It would also support partnerships and ultimately bring successful tools and practices to farmers in all stages of the supply chain – from productivity to marketing.

Additional Secretary for Agriculture Musharaf Hossain and USAID Office of Economic Growth Director Matt Curtis spoke at Tuesday’s event.

The USAID also announced the winners of the Tech4Farmers Challenge, the very first challenge competition held under the Asia Regional Innovative Farmers Project that sought ways to improve the agricultural productivity and income of smallholding farmers in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal.

The winners were e-Fishery’s Smart Fish Feeder of Indonesia and EnerGaia of Thailand.

The e-Fishery’s Smart Fish Feeder, an Indonesia-based technology that combines automatic feeding with sensors and algorithms that sense fish’s appetite and adjusts the amount of feed to improve efficiency while the Innovative Spirulina Production, a system created by EnerGaia in Thailand that maximises algae production with minimal resources.

The Thai innovation help reduces the potential for contamination in its bioreactor design and allows spirulina production nearly anywhere.