Farmers have celebrated the launch of 55 digital village centres with fairs throughout the country.
Farmer producer organizations and their apex, the Sara Bangla Krishak Society (SBKS) established the digital centres with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture.
The producer organizations were inspired by the government’s vision to build a ‘digital Bangladesh’, as well as FAO’s global 1 000 Digital Village Initiative, said a press release.
FAO has been supporting SBKS through the Missing Middle Initiative of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program to build strong rural institutions so that they can provide need-based agribusiness services to smallholder farmers.
In each digital village, a virtual call centre (VCC) collectively facilitates buying inputs for smallholder farmers and selling their produce
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 10 000 producers have benefitted, nearly half of whom have been women.
Through the VCCs, approximately BDT 72.87 million (USD 851,455) of produce has been sold and BDT 11.93 million (USD 139,341) of agricultural inputs have been purchased.
Robert Dick Simpson, FAO representative in Bangladesh said, “In line with the government’s Digital Bangladesh initiative, FAO’s Digital Village Initiative works to ensure that agricultural services reach smallholders, improving rural livelihoods through digital connectivity.”
Rizia Khatun, Service Centre operator from Bodorkhali village said, “Our villagers had to go to a faraway market to simply make a print of something or get information about farming or social safety nets.
“Having a digital village service centre means that important digital services are now available on our doorstep”, she added.
In line with Bengali custom, all walks of life participated in the village fairs which celebrated the launch of the digital centres.
The fairs were inaugurated by upazila administrators in the presence of local government officials, extension agencies, and producer organization representatives.
Local handicraft workers, potters, bamboo and cane artisans, and cottage food entrepreneurs came to sell their produce.
Other participants – ranging from upazila agriculture, livestock and fisheries officers to local banks, telecom operators, mobile financial service providers, private nurseries and input companies, also had stalls to display their services and products.
SBKS General Secretary, Obydul Haque said, “We organized these fairs to introduce villagers to the services available at their digital village service centre.”
A potter from Babuganj said, “As the market for plastic materials expands, we, the Pala community, who make our living through pottery are struggling. I shared this with the centre operator and they told me they can help improve our design and sell our goods more competitively using an online marketplace.”
