Integrated Agricultural Productivity Project (IAPP)

About the Project

In 2016, more than 24 percent of the Bangladeshi population lived in extreme poverty and the country was among one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world. Parts of the country are highly vulnerable to weather conditions, like salt-affected tidal surges in the south and flash-flood and drought in the north, creating challenging environments for farming. Agricultural production is highly vulnerable to weather conditions and productivity is low, in part because available mainstream technology and agronomic practice are not adapted to field conditions. In 2019, nearly 63 percent of the country’s population and 85% of the poor people lived and earned their livelihood in the rural areas, where farmers cultivate only one rice crop per year in tidal surge and flash-flood-prone areas. All these factors affect the income and productivity of crop, fish, and livestock farmers.

IAPP introduced climate-smart agricultural technologies, agronomic practices, crop varieties, and production technology packages better suited for evolving climatic and environmental conditions in target areas. The project focused on:

• Providing training and technical assistance to smallholder farmers
• Empowering local rural communities to increase crop, livestock, and fisheries productivity
• Creating on- and off-farm jobs and agricultural entrepreneurship opportunities that, in turn, generated rural jobs

We worked directly with farming communities and partners from CSOs, academic institutions, and multilateral agencies to build knowledge and skills on new varieties of crops and fish, to improve the adoption of modern production technologies and farming practices, to promote environmentally friendly water use systems, and to link farmers to markets.