Agriculture-Led Growth

In Bangladesh, Feed the Future targets areas vulnerable to extreme shocks to maximize impact and strengthen resilience. In alignment with the Government of Bangladesh’s priorities, Feed the Future focuses on boosting rice production while helping farmers diversify their production with higher-value, nutrient-dense commodities such as horticulture and fish.

For example, in collaboration with Cornell University and other partners, Feed the Future introduced the Bt eggplant variety in Bangladesh, which helped to reduce the use of toxic pesticides by 37.5 percent. Farmers growing the Bt eggplant variety also saw a 51 percent increase in yields and a 128 percent increase in net revenue.

Women’s Empowerment

Empowering women benefits both families and communities and is an important source of resilience in Bangladesh. In collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh, Feed the Future is increasing women’s access to agriculture and nutrition training, seeds and fertilizer, farming technology and childcare. These efforts aim to reduce food insecurity, undernutrition and household-level gender inequalities.

In addition, as a result by 2018:

• Over 500,000 more women own assets;
• Over 800,000 more women have greater control over their income; and
• 1.2 million more women have greater input into productive decisions.

Private Sector Engagement

Private sector engagement is another major focus in Bangladesh. By partnering with private companies, Feed the Future conducted training for sunflower, mung bean, maize, sesame and aquaculture farmers and unlocked $4.3 million in private sector investment. As a result, distribution networks for environment-friendly agricultural inputs were strengthened, agricultural machinery services were expanded and crop diversification was enhanced.

In 2019, Feed the Future’s partnerships with 29 private companies mobilized nearly $900,000 to develop improved inputs, like seeds, and financial and extension services, which benefited over 65,000 farmers. For example, these partnerships ensured over 39,000 farmers had access to improved seed varieties.

In addition, Feed the Future partnered with agricultural machinery importers, manufacturers and dealers to promote small-scale agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh, resulting in local service providers investing nearly $600,000 to purchase 617 machines such as reapers, mini-combine harvesters and power tiller-operated seeders. Because of this partnership, more than 95,000 farmers were able to improve their efficiency through agricultural machinery services, covering around 35,000 hectares of land.