PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Florian Dvorski, University of North Alabama Student
Intern
DATE: March 28, 2002
IFDC Project in
Bangladesh Improves Quality of Life for Farm Families
 IFDC’s ANMAT
project has achieved its goal of reducing production costs for
farmers, which enables them to invest in more land, livestock,
savings, equipment, and schooling for their children, according to
preliminary assessments by IFDC’s Senior Sociologist, Dr. Thomas
P. Thompson. The Adapting Nutrient Management Technologies (ANMAT)
Project's main purposes are to improve the standard of living of
rice-growing farmers and to reduce the environmental impact of
fertilizer use by introducing a new form of urea fertilizer. The
project has so far made the strongest impact in Bangladesh, where it
was initially introduced. However, similar efforts are also underway
in Nepal and Vietnam but are still in their infancy.
Conventional urea
fertilization is done by spreading fertilizer on the surface of rice
paddies. Unfortunately, as much as 70% of the nitrogen from the urea
is converted to gas, may contribute to global warming, and never
reaches the plant when the urea is applied on the surface. This loss
of nitrogen drastically reduces the efficiency of urea fertilizers.
To deal with this problem, the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) collaborated with IFDC to promote the use of
fertilizer briquettes (urea supergranules) as an alternative to
farmers in Bangladesh. In the new process, urea is turned into small
briquettes, which are applied well below the surface near the
plants' roots. "The efficiency is, to say the least, greatly
improved because the nitrogen is trapped," Thompson explains.
The employment of the new technology has resulted in an average
increase of 20% in the farmers' yield. The reduction in nitrogen
gases lost into the atmosphere is an additional positive benefit.
Moreover, in conventional urea fertilization, it is often difficult
to determine when to apply the fertilizer to achieve optimal
results. Farmers using the briquettes do not have to be concerned
about this issue because the fertilizer is always near the plants'
roots where it is needed to be absorbed.
Thompson has
conducted research on the agricultural and social conditions of
local farmers before and after the project. In Bangladesh, he
conducts these studies through questionnaires distributed to a total
of 1,026 farmers. The surveys include questions about the respondent’s
personal effects, schooling, housing, and equipment. Additionally,
Thompson wants to know about the goals that the farmers would like
to realize through the project. Most of them want more money to buy
or rent additional land or for schooling, livestock, savings, and
new equipment. Many also want to invest the savings in creating
small businesses such as teashops. Thompson was pleased to learn, in
his preliminary studies, that the farmers had been able to achieve
their goals. The final report on the project's success will be
issued after another visit to Bangladesh in May when he hopes to
verify these preliminary conclusions.
IFDC enjoys the
close cooperation of the Government of Bangladesh. The success of
programs like the previously completed Fertilizer Distribution
Improvement (FDI) projects (which were funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development—USAID) and ANMAT can largely be
attributed to this collaboration. During the FDI projects, the
government followed IFDC's advice and opened the fertilizer markets
to the emerging private sector. Thompson sees this as the key to the
success of these projects. He believes that the competition created
by the market results in good prices for farmers. Moreover, savings
for farmers and profits for sellers are both reinvested in the
market. The introduction of USG was started during the IFDC/USAID
Agro-Based Industries and Technology Development Project (ATDP),
which was highly successful in improving rice cultivation in
Bangladesh using USG technology, as reported in the January
/February 1999 issue of International Agricultural Development.
The private sector
is also involved in the ANMAT project. IFDC has created engineering
drawings for simple briquetting machines, which are now being built
by local machine shop operators. Merchants buy these machines,
produce and sell briquettes, and reinvest their profits in the
fertilizer and fertilizer technology markets. This approach was also
used during the FDI projects. These projects created a
self-sustaining fertilizer market in a marketplace that had
previously been under government control. U.S. President George W.
Bush praised Bangladesh’s transformation of its agricultural
sector in a speech at the Inter-American Development Bank on March
14, 2002: "Bangladesh, a nation that was once a symbol of
famine, has transformed its agricultural sector. Rice production,
for example, is up nearly 70% since the mid-1970s."
One of the most
challenging aspects of the ANMAT project, according to Thompson, is
"to get the technology out to the farmers." To deal with
the challenge of promoting the new technology, IFDC has decided to
conduct hands-on demonstrations in popular public locations. The
prime locations for these demonstrations are areas in close
proximity to mosques, busy crossroads, and marketplaces. Farmers'
reactions have been positive, and they want to experiment with and
invest in the new technology.
The greatest
challenges for Bangladesh as a whole are its growing population,
frequent catastrophic floods, and air pollution in its main cities.
Bangladesh's large population of approximately 134 million people is
living in a relatively small area of about 56,000 square miles,
approximately the size of Alabama. One of the most important issues
when dealing with a large population is making sure that enough food
is available for everyone. IFDC has always been committed to trying
to provide for just that; ANMAT is only the most recent proof of
this commitment. The issue of water control is also very critical
for Bangladesh. Catastrophic floods of Bangladesh’s many rivers
affect large parts of the country each year. Moreover, the large
number of two-cycle engines in Bangladesh's urban areas is causing
severe air pollution. The government of Bangladesh and
organizations, such as the World Bank, are currently working to try
to convert these engines to four-cycle engines or natural gas
engines.
IFDC and the
government of Bangladesh welcome the positive preliminary results of
the ANMAT project. IFDC is glad to be able to serve countries like
Bangladesh and to help solve one of the world’s most challenging
problems: hunger.
Return
to What's New?
|
