• About
  • Our Work
  • Join
  • Partner
  • Media
EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Sign-up for monthly updates on Winrock's work around the world.

Volunteer Blog

VOLUNTEER BLOG

Bangladesh, a place that feels like home!

  • SHARE:
  • Copy

Posted on July 10, 2015

Dr. Martin Lo just returned from a Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer assignment in Bangladesh and shares his thoughts in today’s blog post:

“Bangladesh, a place that feels like home! –Not only is this the heading on my first slide above the Bangladesh map when I delivered a seminar on Good Agriculture Practices (GAPs) at the Cold Chain Bangladesh Alliance” (CCBA) office in Dhaka the day before my departure, but it is also my true feeling about this lovely country, despite the fact that I was constantly reminded how populated it is whenever I hit the road. This was my third visit to Bangladesh, a country that has the most beautiful farmland in all 30+ countries I have visited.

The most important message I delivered was: ‘Thank you all for choosing farming as your career, which is among the most difficult professions a person can get, but it is the future of human beings. Whoever knows how to grow food to feed their people is going to be the leader of the world.’  Agriculture in developing countries like Bangladesh has always been about the crops; however, in my humble opinion, it is the people who should be the center of agriculture. No healthy and happy farmers, no quality and nutritious agriculture commodities!

Farmers are not getting the profit they deserve. Example: in January 2015 a head of beautifully grown cabbage was valued at an unbelievably low 2 Taka, whereas the same month during my visit to Taipei such a cabbage is priced at almost 80 Taka (slightly higher than US$1). I wish I could have extra luggage to carry all the cabbages to Taipei to make a fortune, but I shouldn’t be the one making the fortune. No one other than the farmers deserves to profit from the beautifully grown produce. I was glad to hear that a bridge is being built to connect the Jessore area to the east, which can provide better transportation for the produce to reach major cities in the country.

I also showed a figure where Bangladesh was ranked no. 8 in the world for mango production in 2011, then the next figure showing the top 10 data for mango exportation during the same year, and Bangladesh was nowhere to be found on the list. Why?  Many farmers, scientists, and NGO employees attending would argue that it was because of the huge population in country, so no extra mango to export. However, if you dig further in the news and literature, it is not difficult to find reports that some farmers are using calcium carbide to ripen mangos; others are using formalin to preserve mangos. A few suspect that growth hormone might be used in some locations. That’s why the country needs a systematic management scheme that could reduce and eventually eliminate misuse of harmful chemicals during cultivation and post harvest.

It was intriguing when one farmer told me he wears a mask when spraying agrochemicals but unfortunately the mask was a loaner that day to another farmer. I insisted that I wish to see the ‘legendary’ mask and won’t leave until I see it. Finally the mysterious mask showed up.  It was more like a decorative piece of makeup, I said.  A simple fabric with two loops that go around the ears.  That’s it. I took a picture and used it for all subsequent trainings and seminars. It was this picture, along with the ones showing how farmers spray pesticides into the air without protection gear that helped me convince a big food processing company in Dhaka to donate personal protection equipment (PPE) to their contract farmers. The company also agreed that social entrepreneurship is the way to go, and they will use their textile and plastic business to produce low-cost and effective PPE to supply to farmers in the country.

There is no magic in upgrading agriculture practices. It won’t happen overnight. But if we don’t do something today just because it seems so difficult, it can only be more difficult tomorrow. I specifically pointed this out when talking to all parties involved and/or interested in establishing GAPs for Bangladesh. When something is difficult, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I was so glad to gather positive feedbacks from all attendees to my seminar before departure. All agreed that it will take two to three phases of efforts to implement GAPs here. During Phase I, as proposed by me, one needs to demonstrate to the farmers the benefits of GAPs so they can focus on the most critical aspects to reduce immediate food safety and health threats. Once the farmers could see the cost reduction when going with biological control such as pheromone traps instead of spraying chemicals, then they could generate some cash flow to improve their facilities. The bitter gourd farmers proudly told me they were able to save up to 70% production cost by using pheromone traps throughout their fields. Such good news should be of interest to all, and the extension educators need to help out.

More work to be done, and that’s why I am coming back in September 2015 to continue the efforts.”

–Martin

 [Thanks much for your efforts, Dr. Lo!]

Posted in Asia, Bangladesh | Tagged agriculture education & training, Bangladesh, Farmer-to-Farmer, international volunteer
ABOUT FARMER-TO-FARMER WINROCK VOLUNTEER ASSISTANCE

SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS

Loading

ARCHIVE

  • December 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011

CATEGORIES

  • AET
  • Africa
    • Ghana
    • Senegal
  • Asia
  • Bangladesh
  • Cuba
  • El Salvador
  • Ethiopia
  • Field Staff
  • Guinea
  • Kenya
  • Latin America
  • Mali
  • Myanmar
  • Nepal
  • Nigeria
  • Postharvest
  • Rural Livelihoods
  • Senegal
  • Spotlights
  • Volunteer Feedback
  • Volunteer of the Month
  • Winrock Staff
WinrockIntl
Tweets by @WinrockIntl
Follow @WinrockIntl

204 E 4th Street | North Little Rock, Arkansas 72114

ph +1 501 280 3000 | fx +1 501 280 3090

2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 700 | Arlington, Virginia 22202

ph +1 703 302 6500 | fx +1 703 302 6512

  • Contact
  • E-News Signup
  • Low Bandwidth
  • Code of Conduct
  • Winrock Privacy Statement
  • Site Map
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © 2015- Winrock International
DEV ENVIRONMENT