feed the future bangladesh rice and diversified crops …

FEED THE FUTURE BANGLADESH

RICE AND DIVERSIFIED CROPS ACTIVITY

FY2021 QUARTER 1 REPORT: October-December 2020

Feed the Future Bangladesh Rice and Diversified Crops (RDC) Activity

FY2021 Quarter 1 Report Jan 15, 2021

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FEED THE FUTURE BANGLADESH

RICE AND DIVERSIFIED CROPS ACTIVITY

FY2021 QUARTERLY REPORT: OCTOBER- DECEMBER 2020

AGREEMENT NUMBER: AID-38-A-16-00002

AOR USAID: MOHAMMAD SAYED SHIBLY

CHIEF OF PARTY: CUAN OPPERMAN

DISCLAIMER This report is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of ACDI/VOCA and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.



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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................... 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................ 1

1. CORE MARKET SYSTEMS ........................................................................................................................................ 2

Rice Sector ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

Maize Sector ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Pulse Sector .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Oilseed Sector ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

2. SUPPORTING MARKET SYSTEMS ......................................................................................................................... 7

Agricultural Equipment ................................................................................................................................................................................ 7

Financial Inclusion and ICT Based Inclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 8

3. CROSS CUTTING THEME ...................................................................................................................................... 10

Gender .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10

4. MEL AND CLA ........................................................................................................................................................... 13

ANNEX 1: RDC PROGRESS AGAINST INDICATORS .......................................................................................... 15



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ACRONYM LIST AAEA Adopt, Adapt, Expand, Respond

ABF Asset Based Financing

ACE Agricultural Commodities Exchange

APS Annual Program Statement

BDS Business Development Services

BGL Business Group Leader

CBSP Community Business Service Provider

CLA Collaboration, Learning, and Adaption

CPPs Crop Protection Products

CYMMIT International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

FAW Fall Army Worm

FTF Feed the Future

FY Fiscal Year

GAP Good Agricultural Practices

ICT Information and Communications Technology

IWD International Women’s Day

LSP Local Services Provider

MAA Market Actor Agreement

MEL Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

MFI Micro Finance Institution

MFS Mobile Financial Services

MNO Mobile Network Operator



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MSME Micro-, Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

MT Metric Ton

NGO Nongovernmental Organization

PAL Partex Agro Ltd.

PCL Petrochem Ltd.

PERSUAP Pesticide Evaluation Report and Safer Use Action Plan

POS Point of Sales

PTOS Power Tiller Operated Seeder

RDC Rice and Diversified Crops Activity

RFA Request for Applications

SCO Systemic Change Objective

SHBS Single Hulled Black Skin

TOC Theory of Change

USAID United States Agency for International Development

ZOI Zone of Influence



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INTRODUCTION The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future (FTF) Bangladesh Rice

and Diversified Crops Activity (RDC) catalyzes changes in market systems that promote intensified rice pro-

duction that will allow diversification of cropping systems into higher-value nutrient rich crops in the FTF

zone, leading to improved food security. This report covers the activities completed during the first quarter of

fiscal year (FY) 2021, from October 1 to December 31, 2020.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Area

Achieved by FY2020 FY2021 Cumula-tive Ac-cess Out-reach by Q1, FY2021

Remain-ing to achieve LoP Tar-get

LoP Target

Inception Year (FY2017)

FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 Cumula-tive by FY2020

Target

Estimated Outreach in Q1 (without verifica-tion)

Access Outreach (In #)

6,555 57,755 274,091 338,401 148,155 143,286 481,687 18,313 500,000

Access Outreach (In %)

1.3 11.6 54.8 67.7 29.6 96.7 96.3 3.7 100

The projected target for FY2021 derives from a total of 25 interventions on seed sales, crop protection prod-

ucts (CPP) and micro-nutrient sales in RDC targeted commodities including rice, maize, oilseeds and pulse

crops as well as cross- cutting mechanization and financial services in the Aman 2020 season. For FY2021 (to

July 2021 currently), RDC expects total access outreach will be 148,155 (including 2% female and 8% youth

participation). To achieve the target, RDC plans to support firms to provide access to new technologies and

improved management practices for smallholder producers through improved availability of seed (and seed

treatments), seedlings, fertilizer (including inoculants), CPP, crop procurement, mechanization, information

and communications technology (ICT) and access to finance. Gender and nutrition-related activities will un-

derpin these approaches. The female and youth participation have been estimated as 2.06% and 7.49% re-

spectively as per the findings from the APS FY20. Subject to getting approval on a no-cost extension request,

the FY2021 target will be revised and increased to include the Boro 20-21, Robi 20-21 and Kharif-21 seasons.

The extension would allow RDC to report performance results of input sales and service access for the three

extra seasons. RDC anticipates access outreach of 408,440 for the NCE period for a cumulative life of pro-

gram figure of 890,127.

Ten interventions reported this quarter cover business initiatives in the Aman 2020 season. Five of the inter-

ventions cover rice seed sales, three on crop protection/fertilizer (inoculants, Trichoderma and micronutri-

ents) sales and two on financial inclusion. A further two interventions (not specific to Aman 2020) cover

mechanization support and rice procurement. Five of the interventions include a COVID-19 mitigation fo-

cused fixed amount sub-award (FAS). COVID-19 FAS have contributed to the establishment of 657 ‘safe

retail points’ in the Ftf ZoI that contribute to improved and safe access to inputs by farmers. Indications are

that these retail points served 236,520 producers.



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In this quarter, an estimated 143,286 farmers1 have had access to quality inputs, markets, mechanization ser-

vices and finance stemming from RDC support to firms in Aman 2020. The total investment in this quarter

from private partners was US$ 269,997 with a further US$ 228,271 from USG. It should be noted a portion

of the USG investment was directed at a COVID-19 response. Fund matching requirements for the COVID-

19 FAS were waived by USAID, though RDC was able to negotiate firm level investment in the COVID-19

mitigation response, demonstrating an interest and commitment to response interventions.

The results from the quarter are:

• 259.07 MT improved seed varieties were supplied in Aman 2020. The estimated farmers accessing

improved seeds is 81,626 with a business value of US$ 588,627

• 10 MT milled rice procured from 10 rice mills in the FtF ZoI by Chaldal for sales in Dhaka. The

business value is US$ 6,190

• A total of 417.1 MT crop protection and micronutrient product were supplied in the FtF Zone. This

includes 144.69 MT CPP and 272.41 MT of fertilizer marketed for use on rice, maize and pulse

crops. The estimated number of farmers reached is 60,164 with a business value of US$ 2,998,083

• Through financial inclusion interventions, around 628 producers received US$ 340,976 in agricultural

loans from micro finance institutions (MFIs) and 138 agricultural micro merchants received US$

755,953 in loans to enhance their businesses and provide credit to farmers

• Through RDC mechanization interventions, 2 rice transplanters were sold in the FTF zone with 720

producers receiving rice transplanter services provided by local service providers (LSPs). The value of

the rice transplanters sold was US$ 9,524

The table below summarizes the access outreach numbers by sectors.

Sector Access Outreach

Quality Seed Supply to FtF zone 81,626

Rice Procurement from FtF zone 102

Crop Protection and Fertilizer Supply to FtF zone 60,164

Financial Support 766

Mechanization Support 720

Total Access Outreach 143,286

1. CORE MARKET SYSTEMS

Rice Sector Despite the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, RDC—through its facilitation with private com-panies in the rice sector—continued to expand and enhance access to inputs and services in the FtF ZoI.

The facilitation focused on the following aspects:

1 Estimated figure (without verification) based on submitted business report by the private partners. 2 This relates to 10 rice mills rather than producers.



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a) To build capacity of value chain actors, including farmers, encouraging them to procure inputs from ‘safe retail points’ while maintaining social distancing and practicing good hygiene

b) Promotion of fine and submergent tolerant hybrids and high-value rice varieties, reducing production costs and improving incomes

c) Promotion of organic compost and micronutrients to improve yields and soil health

d) Encouraging farmers to use CPP judiciously, through advisory services, to protect beneficial pests and ecology while simultaneously reducing costs

e) Encouraging collaboration between agricultural input companies and institutional buyers to increase adoption of hybrids and high value varieties, as well as assuring grain procurement from farmers.

Utilizing a learning and adaptation approach, ACCL and Supreme pilots completed their interventions, providing real time farmer advisory service from input selling points. The companies experienced significant business growth and many farmers received pertinent information alongside their inputs in the Boro season.

The Petrochem (Bangladesh) Ltd (PCL) scale up intervention continued working on collaboration with farm-ers and auto rice millers to promote non-sticky fine grain rice hybrids. They also promoted the CPP, Fertera, which is beneficial to soil health and protects rice plants (whole life cycle) from internal feeders. PCL applied innovative marketing and promotional strategies to promote their improved hybrid rice seed and CPP and experienced significant incremental sales growth compared to the last Aman season.

Bayer Crop Science continued to provide crop advisory services to farmers through their crop clinics (includ-ing mobile clinics) and maintain seed and CPP availability in 107 Upazilas of the FTF zone. Bayer’s Crop Clinic Advisors were also able to maintain distanced communication and advisory services with farmers and retailers by phoning at least 30 farmers per day. To date, 10 mobile crop clinics have provided advisory ser-vices to 13,398 farmers and 8,681 farmers visited crop clinic for advisory services.

Two pilot interventions with ACI Seed and Ali Seed Farm focused on exploring the marketability of new high yielding rice varieties, most of which are zinc-fortified. These varieties are high yielding, fast-maturing, disease resistant and have the additional benefit of zinc fortification, which provides an essential micronutrient with-out requiring significant change in consumer diet or behavior. ACI Seed also promoted the first high-yielding self-pollinated rice variety, RABI dhan-1, developed through a public-private partnership (ACI-Rajshahi Uni-versity) with support from USAID.

The Ispahani scale-up intervention promoted a variety of inputs as part of their “Total Crop Management” strategy. Ispahani promoted the use of quality inputs including seed, FAWligen (for Fall Army Worm on maize) and Trichoderma to be sold in conjunction with the sale of each packet of rice, maize, mung bean and other crop seed. The company expanded its boat-based promotions as an innovative way for the company to promote its products and for smallholder farmers to learn about better quality inputs to improve their crops. The company laid out a route to reach the maximum number of people possible. It also decorated the boats in bright colors and displayed posters containing product and agricultural information. Using loudspeakers, these boats broadcast promotions about different products as well as details of where the boats would anchor for those interested in learning more. Once anchored at the riverbank, the boats served as a stage for contin-ued interactions. Employees of Ispahani Agro Limited then had the opportunity to interact with farmers, agro-dealers, and retailers in several new locations. This novel approach is building customer loyalty and in-creasing the company’s sales and market share.

Metals’ two rice varieties, MS 1 and Agrani 7, are providing significant benefits to farmers. Farmers are re-ceiving a comprehensive advisory service on the use of quality hybrids, seed treatments and other agronomic practices. Naafco promoted their Hybrid Dhan 2 variety, combining innovative promotional activities such as spot based dealer and retailer meetings and shop branding with company’s logo to enhance awareness of their various productive inputs.



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A scale up of an “integrated business model” with Konika seed company has promoted both a high value rice seed variety (derived from their seed contract growing), Trichoderma, combine harvesting and financial ser-vices via an agency agreement with City Bank. In the COVID-19 environment, they have been promoting inputs and services through local cable tv networks. UOMCSL has promoted high yielding, premium rice va-rieties and Trichoderma through their distribution network and newly established “Community Business Ser-vice Providers (CBSPs)”. The CBSPs are selling seed varieties and providing advisory services to farmers at household level. In addition, the company also assisted in establishing links between rice growers and proxi-mate rice millers.

RDC supported seven companies (Bayer, ACI Seed, UOMCSL, Ali Seed, Konika, ACCL and Lal Teer) with their COVID-19 emergency response, ensuring distribution of essential inputs and timely goods procure-ment. Much of the response focused on the establishment of hygienic input and procurement points as well as safety awareness messaging amongst value chain actors. RDC also supported the firms to implement new ways of engaging with farmers such as using local cable TV networks, digitized learning and messaging (with Robi phones and the Krishi Bhai app) and using vans (three wheelers) to broadcast messaging and sell inputs.

GENDER INTEGRATION:

The inclusion of women was promoted through various planned interventions and given a high priority using alternative options in the current pandemic. In most cases, however, women in Bangladesh are usually in-volved in household activities and to some extent in post- harvest management activities (threshing and bag-ging). In the pandemic, companies promoted inputs and advice utilizing digital/social media channels and while female ownership of smart phones remains low, they did have access to this information through other household members. Konika provided combine harvester services to 13 women farmers which helped pro-mote women’s participation in mechanized rice harvesting. Naafco arranged spot-based farmer’s meetings, which by addressing the social restrictions on women’s mobility, reached significant numbers of women pro-ducers. Different communication materials were distributed to farmers by supply chain actors which depicted men and women in empowering roles in the rice sector, thus increasing awareness of the important role that women play in this sector. RDC will continue working to establish a gender balance in all areas of the crop cultivation process.

Worth noting is that UOMSCL engaged several female CBSPs which facilitated reach to more women farm-ers, resulting in increased seed sales.

LEARNINGS:

➢ RDC supported companies to adapt to prevailing conditions in a COVID-19 environment and guided

them to adopt new marketing methodologies. For example, promotional events at haat bazaars had to be

cancelled as public gatherings were not allowed. These activities were replaced with digital activities such

as utilizing local cable channels and information dissemination through mobile digital platforms/social

media. These have proved effective and are cost efficient. Doorstep services to farmers such as

UOMCSL’s seed sales through vans increased sales volumes and built loyalty with farmers.

Maize Sector RDC continued its work in the maize sector to improve income of maize producers in the FtF zone. A scale-up intervention developed with PCL/Corteva committed USD 50,000 by Corteva to PCL. PCL observed substantial demand for their improved hybrid maize seed and implemented several activities including road shows, farmer focused campaigns, demonstrations, and engagement of local lead farmer/ opinion leaders as “Pravakta” (ambassador farmers). The scale-up expanded their footprint, branding and sales. PCL has so far experienced a 111 MT increase in sales compared to the previous season. This year, the maize sector experi-enced approximately 30% less area under production as farmers shifted to rice, potato, and onions, led by shortages for these staples, and increased profitability. PCL remains confident of achieving incremental sales of 150 MT in targeted zones. Through this initiative, PCL field staff reached out to farmers at village level



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rather than just relying on input traders. The farmer-focused interaction allowed them to promote a new vari-ety (P 3388) along with the fast-selling P 3355.

Under the scale-up FAS with Bayer Crop Science, the company provided farmer advisory services (digitally and face-to-face) and managed to sell 150 MT maize seed (Monsanto). Lal Teer Seed Ltd marketed 1 MT maize seed under a COVID-19 response FAS with RDC. PRAN Group has established Krishi Hubs in the Jashore region from where they will directly purchase maize from Hub Managers. Through these Krishi Hubs, Pran has provided technical support to farmers, information on quality grain and procurement stand-ards. PRAN Group has set up a digital platform (WhatsApp group) with hub managers and this platform helped participants access procurement information on a continuous basis.

The Fall Army Worm (FAW) infestation became a major problem this season in many parts of the FTF zone. There is a lack of awareness by farmers and CPP company staff and dealers on FAW identification and early-stage prevention and control. Field reports suggest that the insecticides Coregent, marketed by PCL, and Tracer, marketed by ACCL, have been effective in controlling FAW. Through the partnership between RDC and CIMMYT, Ispahani is promoting FAWligen, a U.S.-origin bio-pesticide specifically aimed at controlling FAW. RDC maintains contact with CIMMYT regarding FAW technologies such as FAW resistant maize va-rieties and recently developed crop protection items.

LEARNINGS:

➢ With Corteva/Pioneer hybrid varieties gaining popularity as a brand amongst farmers, counterfeit

packing has been seen in the market. The company needs to introduce tracing mechanisms to ensure

farmers can verify they are purchasing genuine seed.

➢ The combination of digital promotion along with roadshows and individual farmer communications

has proved to be effective in promoting inputs and technologies, particularly in a COVID-19 envi-

ronment and will most likely continue to be applied as a cost-effective farmer engagement mecha-

nism.

Pulse Sector RDC finalized a scale-up FAS with ACI Fertilizer to promote nitrogen-fixing and yield-enhancing rhizobia inoculants for mung bean, lentils, groundnuts and other legume cultivation in Bangladesh. Apart from inocu-lants, ACI Fertilizer will also target other bio-solutions (Fulvic acid and Humic acid) to protect plants from stress conditions and improve yields. ACI Fertilizer has sold 450 kg of inoculant for lentils and established 20 lentil demo plots in the Jashore region.

Prantajon Agro Enterprise is preparing to conduct promotional activities in the Barisal region to strengthen its BARI Mung 6 procurement and sales network. RDC has facilitated a linkage with ACI Fertilizer and Pran-tojon to promote inoculants jointly with seed. RDC also facilitated linkages with ACI Fertilizer and Coastal Agro, a regional company, to promote inoculants with their farmer base in Barguna.

In a linkage meeting facilitated by RDC, ACI Fertilizer and CIMMYT discussed and made plans regarding the CIMMYT-developed mung bean climate mitigation tool, Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) system and inoc-ulants. Both have planned to establish research plots on mung bean using ACI inoculants. ACI Fertilizer is dependent on government research organizations such as the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) to supply them with particular rhizobia strains of inoculant. Based on the success of inoculant trials last season, RDC encouraged ACI Fertilizer to establish their own production facilities and move away from dependence on third-party supply sources. Accordingly, ACI has initiated plans to have their own laboratory in Jashore prior to the 2022 season.

PRAN Group has continued to operate through their Krishi Hub facilities in Patuakhali and Barguna region to establish an input sales infrastructure through Hub managers and in order to procure quality grains. PRAN Group prepared 4 short video clips on Krishi Hubs: an introduction, Hub activities, Trichoderma usage and



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lab testing processes. These were disseminated through a digital platform (WhatsApp group with Hub manag-ers, farmers, and company staff) to educate value chain actors on improved crop production techniques.

Under a COVID-19 response FAS with Xplore, the company broadcasted a video documentary on inocu-lants in six Upazilas of Jhenaidah region and received a positive response from the viewers including female farmers. Xplore sourced inoculant strains from the research organization, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), but this season the BARI laboratory is under renovation and they have been unable to source the strains. RDC managed to facilitate a connection that enabled Xplore to source 50kg inoculants from BINA to meet demand. RDC is waiting for Xplore to provide a viable inoculant sourcing plan to final-ize the scale-up plan.

Through an FAS with RDC, Haychem Bangladesh Limited (HBL) continued to spread awareness about the benefits of the low-cost input, Trichoderma, a bio-pesticide that can be used to control seed and soil-borne diseases in many crops, including rice and grain legumes. HBL established 4 demonstration of Tricost (Trichoderma) as a bio-pesticide for lentil. Ispahani is also promoting Trichoderma based products in rice and grain legumes.

GENDER INTEGRATION:

Xplore broadcasted a family-centric video documentary on inoculants through local dish channels in 6 Upazi-las in the Jhenaidah region. According to the company, around 2,500 women viewed the documentary. In an encouraging development, Xplore even received phone calls from female farmers wanting to learn more about the inoculants.

LEARNINGS:

The input companies should have their own production facilities for inoculants to meet the increasing de-mand. Depending on research institutes for commercial supply carries risk. The technology is easy to replicate in relatively low-cost laboratories.

Oilseed Sector RDC is working with sesame, groundnut, mustard, and sunflower oil seed crops to contribute to the oil seed sector development in the FTF Zone in Bangladesh.

In the sesame sub-sector, RDC partnered with two sesame export companies, Jadid Grain Industries and Sukumar Vander, and a regional sesame processing company, Natural Agro. Natural Agro utilized a direct procurement model in Faridpur, Rajbari, Magura, Jhenaidah and Khulna areas. These companies are strength-ening their procurement channels and expanding into the FTF zone by increasing awareness amongst farmers and other relevant market actors about quality sesame production and post-harvest management that will lead to an increase in sesame processing and exports. During this quarter, the sesame companies conducted vari-ous awareness and promotional campaigns, including haat bazar meetings, road shows, videos on cable TV networks, van miking and field demonstrations (with new variety trials underway in early Robi in six locations of the Faridpur, Rajbari area by Jadid Grain Industries) to increase farmers’ knowledge of quality sesame pro-duction, business linkages and capacity development. The companies continue their sesame procurement and by December 2020 had procured 4,911 MT (Jadid 2,004 MT, Sukumar Vander 2,400 MT and Natural Agro 507 MT) of sesame from more than 37,000 farmers for the export market. Jadid Corporation exported 1,100 MT sesame to Vietnam, China, and Thailand with a value of approximately USD 1,279,000.

Two private seed companies, Metal Agro and Dynamic Agro Science, with RDC support, commenced ses-ame seed marketing in the FtF ZoI. They are promoting sesame based on a short duration rice T-Aman crop-ping pattern and creating awareness of the benefits of sesame cultivation. They are conducting promotional campaigns, road shows, distributing leaflets and production flow charts, and providing advisory services on sesame-based cropping patterns to farmers. During this quarter they provided sesame advisory services to 10,640 farmers. Metal Agro tested a new variety of sesame at their research center in Panchgarh district. The



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plants are now in the flowering stage. They plan to test marketing this new variety sesame in the Jan-March 2021 quarter, when the sesame sowing season begin.

In the sunflower sub-sector, the intervention to expand sales of high-yielding hybrid sunflower seed by intro-ducing customer-orientated marketing strategies with ACI Seed Ltd. was successfully completed. The inter-vention closing meeting was held during the quarter.

In the groundnut sub-sector, Partex Agro trialed varietal performance of new high yielding USA groundnut seed varieties (sourced in collaboration with the FtF Peanut Innovation Laboratory) to strengthen a robust customer-oriented distribution channel replacing existing low-performance groundnut seeds. They conducted promotional campaigns, including video display events and road shows. Three other companies, Bombay Sweets, PRAN and Lal Tree Seed Ltd. who participated in the 2019 Georgia Peanut Tour with RDC support have begun trialing high yielding USA varieties in collaboration with the FtF Peanut Innovation Laboratory and New Mexico State University.

Following the closure of the RDC FAS, Bombay Sweets has continued selling mustard oil in domestic and international markets (produced from locally sourced mustard from farmers in the FtF zone with RDC sup-port). Currently they are selling approximately 2,000 Liters of mustard in the domestic market in 3 pack sizes (1,000, 400 and 200 ml) and are exporting approximately 1,000 Liters of mustard oil to 20 countries including the UK, Canada, USA, Maldives, Brunei and to various countries in the Middle East. Bombay Sweets has planned to establish their own processing center for mustard in Deviganj in the next phase of their business expansion plans.

GENDER INTEGRATION:

Dynamic Agro Science appointed female field staff who can reach women beneficiaries at a household level and provide advisory services. In the quarter, 1,150 female farmers were engaged through this sesame advi-sory service.

LEARNINGS:

➢ Improved technology adoption rates at the farmer level remains low. Firms that have adopted inno-vative approaches such as the holistic sesame advisory service have managed to convince farmers that adoption of improved oilseed technologies will ensure higher production, higher income, create employment, and improve livelihoods of farmers.

➢ Due to the COVID-19 crisis, some of the promotional events planned involving mass gatherings were hampered but promotions through road shows, miking, digital and electronic media (local cable TV network) were found to be effective.

➢ During this quarter, the Government subsidized a large quantity of sunflower seed and this has dis-couraged private sector plans to market their own seed.

2. SUPPORTING MARKET SYSTEMS

Agricultural Equipment

This quarter RDC worked towards:

a) Promotion of agricultural equipment utilizing a franchise model

b) Sales of combine harvesters and rice transplanters

c) Identification of potential private partners to strengthen the mechanization sector

RDC’s signed two FAS’s with Metal (Scale Up) and ACI Motors this quarter to promote sales of combine harvesters and rice transplanters.



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The main objective of the Metal FAS is to promote the use of rice combine harvesters to supplant manual harvesting which is expensive, inefficient and time consuming. Farmers utilizing combine harvester services are able to improve incomes by saving on labor costs and are able to both sell their harvest and plant a fol-low-on crop sooner. Metal established a franchisee model (with other RDC partners, facilitated by RDC) to provide and promote mechanization equipment to local service providers and farmers.

RDC signed up a new FAS with ACI Motors to promote the use of rice combine harvester services in the FtF zone. ACI Motors will promote the Japanese origin, domestically-assembled YANMAR combine har-vesters in Bangladesh. RDC is supporting ACI Motors to create awareness of the benefits of using harvesting services and to market combine harvesters in the field.

These two interventions and another two interventions in the pipeline have been designed in collaboration with the USAID supported CSISA MEA Activity. This partnership leverages CSISA’s training and capacity-building capabilities. CSISA MEA will support the four companies to develop LSP entrepreneurship and fi-nancial literacy skills, promote machine operation and maintenance best practices among LSP’s as well as train mechanics and operators.

LEARNINGS:

➢ RDC’s work focuses on growing the demand for mechanized services, to convince farmers that using

mechanized services will increase their incomes and to make market actors realize that farmers are willing

to pay for those services. Once LSP’s, mechanics and operators realize that investing in combine harvest-

ers (and seed transplanters) could be profitable for everyone, the industry will grow organically. The RDC

supported interventions are strengthened through the collaboration with CSISA MEA and serve as a

good example of collaboration between USAID supported activities.

Financial Inclusion and ICT Based Inclusion

Financial Inclusion

Given the current market dynamics in FtF zone, where a large proportion of input retailers’ capital is held up in credit to farmers and this cost of credit is reflected in higher prices charged for inputs, RDC leveraged commercial banks Channel Banking outlets (Agent Banks, Micro-Merchants) as well as their relationship with MFI’s (Micro-Finance Institutions) to provide financial access in remote areas and make banking accessible to the marginalized, unserved rural population. In addition to this, the COVID-19 pandemic, limited working hours and physical monitoring of customers have made it even harder for existing agent banks to provide an-cillary financial services, making banks more risk averse to cater to the financing needs of FtF zone value chain stakeholders.

To address this, RDC has partnered with banks to incentivize them to access and leverage the Government COVID-19 stimulus package and make credit available to farmers and market actors, with the ultimate goal of reducing poverty by enhancing farmers’ access to agricultural inputs, which in turn aims to ensure continu-ous food security. Prior to engagement from RDC, many banks were hesitant to access the stimulus packages due to unattractive terms and conditions.

Three interventions were in implementation in the quarter. Two of them addressed COVID-19 impact con-straints. The third intervention is around piloting asset-based finance through which City Bank will finance agricultural equipment. This intervention, based on the market opportunity of Government subsidies to agri-cultural equipment, will leverage the footprint of RDC regional partners as points of presence.

➢ Bank Asia will provide unsecured loans to Micro-Merchants/SMEs in the FTF zone while mitigating the impact of COVID -19 on trading of essential agricultural inputs through “Safe” Micro-Merchants and agri-input retailer outlets who will provide farmers direct and indirect credit support. Bank Asia is using their existing established channel banking outlets, developed in tandem with RDC in past partnerships, (Micro-Merchants and Gender Accelerator Program Graduates). Bank Asia has disbursed loans to 28 Mi-cro-Merchants, and a further 33 are being vetted for credit worthiness. The average ticket size for these



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loans is BDT 182,143 (it ranges from BDT 100,000 – BDT 300,000). The total value disbursed is BDT 5,100,000. The interest rate for the loans is capped at 9% APR. Bank Asia expects to disburse loans to 33 Micro-Merchants in the next quarter.

➢ BRAC Bank plans to use their established ‘touch points’ (agent banks and SME units) to provide credit facilities to 100 SME borrowers and MFI partners’ strong operational structures to provide credit exten-sion to 1,000 farmers availing the Bangladesh Bank stimulus package. BRAC Bank has disbursed MFI loans to 628 farmers, of which 620 are female. The average ticket size for these loans is USD 536 (BDT 45,608) with a range from USD 29,500 – USD 270 each. The total value disbursed is USD 336,964 (BDT 28,642,000). The interest rate for the loans is determined as per Bangladesh Bank stimulus package guide-line at 9% APR. These loans have been disbursed leveraging the distribution of a Micro-Finance Insti-tute, Rural Reconstruction Foundation (RRF). BRAC Bank has disbursed agri-SME loans to 110 retail-ers/producers. The average loan ticket size is USD 6,246 (BDT 530,909) with a range from USD 2,353 – USD 17,647. The total value disbursed is USD 687,058.

➢ Learning and adapting from a non-FAS supported pilot, City Bank Ltd. has partnered with RDC’s re-gional partners to focus on improving financial ancillary services to create greater connectivity and collab-oration across the market system by promoting a multi-service offering (financial inclusion, mechaniza-tion services) and promoting COVID-19 precautionary safety measures. City Bank plans to open credit lines to purchase agricultural equipment for 20 LSPs as a pilot to test Asset Based Financing (ABF) so that farmers can access mechanization services. RDC has done extensive research on ABF and will pro-vide technical assistance to City Bank to develop an appropriate product. City Bank also plans to extend services to 100 SME’s and provide crop loans to 50 farmers.

RDC continues with its work to establish a commodity trade platform. Commodity trading platforms that focus on making grain trading more efficient and transparent are the next big leap for the millions of farmers in Bangladesh. Currently, grain procurement by large firms is disparate, opportunistic, and ineffi-cient. Processors and retailers rely on a network of in-field traders and aggregators for their supply. The network is limited in size and scope and pricing is opaque. A trading platform that relays a ‘buy’ message tends to draw in more suppliers resulting in better pricing for off-takers and farmers as efficiencies are improved. Furthermore, the tendency for off-takers is to procure as much stock at harvest (usually at de-pressed prices) as there are few mechanisms to ensure later supply. This in turn results in much of their working capital being tied up until the commodities or beneficiated products are sold. A trading platform allows for the establishment of warehouse receipts systems (WRS) that both unlock bound capital and improve access to finance for farmers. Most small-scale farmers are forced to sell their produce at harvest (when prices are at their lowest because of the volumes offered) because they need money to re-pay loans for the cost of inputs and prepare for the next season. WRS allows farmers to deposit their crop at a cer-tified storage facility and receive a Warehouse Receipt. The receipt can then be used as collateral to bor-row from a participating bank. In addition to closing the finance gap, WRS also allows farmers to access quality storage facilities and sell their commodities at a fair market price and at the time of their choosing, such as when prices recover from harvest-time lows. Off-takers can avail themselves of warehouse re-ceipts and access finance in this way. This tends to put more money in the market for procurement, in-creasing competition and prices.

RDC has been in contact with various stakeholders who have indicated that they would be interested in establishing or using some form of trade platform. This would be a new initiative in Bangladesh (though quite common in similar developing economies). RDC has already carried out an initial research with an expert whose expertise covers establishment of commodity exchanges in developing economies. Based on his findings, a road map has been developed on how a platform can be developed. Furthermore, all backing documentation (trade contracts, commodity specifications, rules and regulations for the plat-form) has been developed. First-movers Chaldal and Ghazi Commodities are now seeking Board approv-als to establish a separate company that will house the commodity platform. They are also actively seek-ing other shareholders (amongst the financial institutions, commodity traders and processors) to take up a shareholding of the new company. It is expected that the company will be established next quarter.



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ICT Based Inclusion

RDC has partnered with Robi Axiata Ltd to develop a communication App ‘Krishi Bhai’ and offer a package of low-cost smart phones, data and sim card (product bundle offering at BDT 4200). The intention is to en-hance traditional methods of providing training and improve communication between firms, input retailers and farmers. COVID-19 restrictions have made it difficult to conduct regular training while maintaining proper safety and hygienic guidelines. This is an opportune time to adopt digital platforms to conduct train-ing as well as ensure continued communication with stakeholders.

RDC partner firms are taking up the offer, providing phones to farmers, dealers and retailers and establishing a platform for communication. The platform also allows for knowledge sharing between farmers and in-field agronomic problems can be dealt with almost instantaneously (taking a picture and posting it, asking for ad-vice) by the knowledge ecosystem that the platform provides. Robi has received purchase requisition orders for 830 phones from 12 RDC partner firms. In the next quarter this is expected to increase to 1,350 phones from 16 companies. Partner firms have been positive about the initiative and have embraced the approach.

Chaldal, the largest e-commerce grocery store in Bangladesh, will source 100 MT of fine and fragrant rice (and other grains) from the FTF Zone and supply Dhaka consumers, utilizing their software capability to tar-get potential consumers. The company aims to reach farmers through procurers and millers to build a strong supply chain network which will eventually tie into their plans to establish a commodity exchange. Chaldal is conducting a consumer engagement campaign titled “Know Your Rice” using its social media and marketing channels to popularize fine grain and aromatic rice varieties sourced from the ZOI amongst consumers in urban markets. Chaldal has procured 40 MT of crops from FtF zone aggregators. In the following quarter, they plan to increase this to at least 100 MT.

To tackle challenges associated with COVID-19, Chaldal has partnered with RDC to leverage technical assis-tance and capacity building support to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, making sure their delivery service team and other support functions maintain proper safety and hygiene protocols. By partnering with RDC, Chaldal plans to fast-track their existing hiring process by developing virtual training materials, that can be accessed on the go (virtual training via mobile and android devices with embedded Micro-SD cards) for newly hired delivery service men/women. In the following quarter, Chaldal will design essential food ration pack-ages for the urban poor to be channeled through their existing distribution network.

3. Cross Cutting Themes

Gender

In the RDC program design gender integration is achieved through prioritizing three main WEE (Women’s Economic Empowerment) parameters:

➢ Improving women’s access to market, where access to market means an increased number of sales to women, increased purchase or joint purchase of inputs, and increased access to services and knowledge

➢ Increase women’s decision-making power, specifically decisions about agricultural production, access to and decision-making power over productive resources (expenditure and income)

➢ Increase in women’s leadership roles

To achieve these goals, during the FAS co-creation phase, every initiative has been reviewed from a gender lens and the RDC Gender team has provided technical assistance with customized gender-integrated activities that have clear commercial advantages to the business model. In Q1 the focus has been on promoting gen-der activities in COVID-19 response business models. RDC has provided consistent technical guidance dur-ing implementation to its partners to extend their services to female producers, female value chain actors



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such as retailer, trader, and service providers in their network. To ensure proper monitoring, adaptation and response, RDC has developed a “Gender Activity Tracker” which will track results and challenges in gender integration across its various activities.

Snapshot of the Quarter

The Q1 has focused on aligning gender initiatives with that of the systemic change objectives and impacts of each FAS. Successes of this approach include:

➢ Regional rice grain/seed procurer UOMSCOL reached and contracted women farmers through courtyard meeting, linkage meetings and training, and as of December reported engaging 262 female farmers in the quarter bringing the total engaged under the FAS to 1,050.

➢ Bayer Crop Science has been proactive in planning and keeping a focus on women clients and a woman ambassador farmer group as a way of establishing women in leadership roles. In this quarter 289 female farmers have been reached through various promotional activities and advisory services.

➢ BRAC Bank has disbursed MFI loans to 628 farmers, of whom 620 are female. The average ticket size for these loans is USD 536 (BDT 45,608) at 9% APR. BRAC bank used their MFI partners’ strong oper-ational structures to provide credit extension to these woman farmers. The MFI partner held women fo-cused meetings prior to loan disbursements.

Considering the challenges faced by female producers and value chain actors due to COVID-19, the gender team worked closely with existing partners and suggested possible ways to engage women farmers:

➢ Ispahani conducted a door-to-door campaign while adhering to safety precautions to reach female farm-ers.

➢ Considering the complexity of accessing any outdoor event due to health and safety concerns, partners such as Bombay Sweets (groundnuts) have provided masks to female farmers.

➢ Partners such as Jadid, Sukumar Vander and Natural Agro have done community miking or electronic media advertisement to reach female farmers.

Gender Activity Tracker

To capture the implementation status of gender integration, RDC had developed gender activity tracker dur-ing Q3 of FY4. To inform RDC program design and implementation, the tracker captures activities imple-mented, upcoming/planned activities, challenges and lessons learned around gender integration . The gender tracker serves as the locator and identifier of root causes of implementation challenges in the field, thus equipping the implementation team to make adjustments where necessary to enhance approaches and out-comes.



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LEARNINGS:

Community / homebased events were successful in reaching women

Female field workforce is effective in reaching women

clients

Proactive plan on female engagement ensures long-term

reward

Community miking or female based events

are considered as easily accessible for the female farmers

Female focused group activity seems to be more attractive

Nutrition

In this quarter, analysis of the Annual Performance Survey was undertaken to understand the determinants of diet quality and food security, particularly in the context of COVID-19. It was found that 32.5% of women in the sample were not consuming a diet considered diverse enough to be meeting their micronutrient needs. The likelihood of meeting the necessary dietary diversity was highly dependent on household income, even more so than education or landholding. Controlling for other factors including landholding, education, and basic demographic characteristics, each additional income tertile predicted a woman to be one and half time more likely to be consuming a micronutrient adequate diet. A similar impact was found for the dietary diver-sity of the entire household.

Food insecurity is less common in the sample than micronutrient inadequacy of diet, but remains an issue for around 14% of RDC households. Among RDC households, 10% have experienced an episode of foodless-ness in the past 4 weeks. These households are at risk for more severe food crises and special work should be made to ensure they are reached by intervention activities. Food security was also found to be highly depend-ent on income. Controlling for area of land cultivated and level of education, each additional 50000 BDT (~$500) in annual income predicts that the household is 11.7% less likely to report worries about food inse-curity, and 28.8% less like to experience an incident of foodlessness.

We recognize that due to the nature of the RDC intervention, households with no or marginal landholdings are under-represented in this survey. However, we believe that the promising effect of income on improving both quality of diet and food security extends to these marginal households as well. Investments in agriculture productivity enhance incomes throughout the food system, providing potential nutrition benefits to all who work along the focus value chains.

Zinc-biofortified rice offers a substantial opportunity for improving both micronutrient adequacy of diet as

well as contributing to food security by nature of being a cereal crop. To this end, in Q1 alone ACI reports



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selling 7.02 MT of zinc rice seed, and Ali Seed Farm reports selling 64 MT of zinc rice seed, which indicates

the extent to which harvested zinc rice will be available for consumption in the coming months. Ali Seed

Farm has, with the support of CSISA-MEA, has undertaken the transplantation of zinc rice using the new

Kobuta Rice Transplanter to farmers’ fields free of cost, ultimately transplanting a total of 200 decimal of

land with zinc-biofortified rice.

4. MEL and CLA The key accomplishments of MEL team were:

➢ FY2020 Annual Performance Survey: In this reporting quarter the MEL Team completed the analysis of

the FY2020 Annual Performance Survey data and based on that prepared the FtF Indicator report for

upload on the USAID DIS system. The MEL Team also utilized those analytical findings in the FY2020

brief IM narrative including learnings and challenges. The performance data (considering use rate inputs,

market access and services) then informed the target setting for FY2021 indicators.

➢ Prepared the Annual Performance Survey report for FY2020, incorporating sector wise progress snap-

shots and included success stories from FY2020 interventions

➢ Prepared the FY2021 Annual progress report utilizing the analytical output from the annual performance

survey

➢ Participated in number of interventions closing review sessions in order to critically analyze intervention successes or improvement opportunities and the reasons behind the successes. The key learnings from these interventions were:

Bombay Sweets-Groundnut: With RDC facilitation, Bombay Sweets started sourcing groundnut for

the first time from Bhola district by establishing a contract farming model. The review indicated that

100% of business growth as well as area expansion was in the FtF zone. In the closing review discussion,

Bombay Sweets said that under this intervention they procured groundnut from Lead Farmers (Group

leaders) as well as from traders but didn’t find any quality differences sourcing from both the sources.

They did not find any cost comparative advantage for sourcing groundnut from Bhola area in compari-

son with Debigonj (North Bengal). They did find a better-quality groundnut (larger kernel) for Bhola

which is what they aim for.

BSCL will continue procuring from Bhola beyond RDC facilitation as a result of the availability of large

kernel groundnuts more suited to their snack food requirements. BSCL are planning to expand ground-

nut collection from Patuakhali district and increase their product portfolio (with mustard, sunflower, ses-

ame, mung bean) in FtF zone in the next 2/3 years.

ACI-Sunflower: Under this intervention ACI promoted sunflower seed (Hysun 36) in the FtF zone. The

promoted varieties were well accepted by farmers because of shorter duration, plant size and yield perfor-

mance. Seed shortages (stemming from Government procurement for subsidy schemes) resulted in less

area under cultivation than expected. As a result of the seed shortage, farmers used retained seed or lesser

quality offerings, obtaining lower yields which has created a negative perception of Sunflower cultivation.



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During closing review ACI mentioned that the Government subsidy program procured around 83 MT of

their sunflower seed and offered it at a large subsidy to farmers. They believe this will impact their busi-

ness and they will not offer sunflower seed again.

➢ Finalized result chains, intervention measurement plans and learning questions and intervention logic for

a number of pilot and scaleup interventions: ACI Motors, UOMCSL, ACCL-scaleup, Lalteer, Bombay

Sweets (Groundnut)-scaleup, Bombay Sweets (Rice & Mustard) scaleup, Haychem and Metal Pvt. Ltd-

Scaleup.

➢ Completed pre- and post-intervention Social Network Analysis exercise for the following interventions:

Pre-SNA: ACI Motors, BRAC Bank, City Bank, Haychem. Post SNA: Bombay Sweets (Groundnut), ACI

Seed, ACCL, Konica Seed Company. Through this exercise the program is able to understand the

changes in the business network and relationships with the distribution/supply network allowing deter-

mination of RDC attribution.

➢ Participated in Kick-off meetings of ACI Motors, Dynamic Agro (COVID FAS) to understand the inter-

vention logic with objectives. target and proposed activities and also orientated partners on business pro-

gress reporting and activity tracking processes.

➢ Two MEL team members participated in training on “Results Measurement for Sustainable Private Sec-

tor Development (RM-PSD)” by Consultancy.



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ANNEX 1: RDC Progress Against Indicators3

Disaggregate Unit LOP

Target Base-line

FY2018 FY2019 FY2020 FY2021 (Quarter 1-Unverfied)

As of FY2021

Goal: Improved food security through systemic changes that increase rural incomes

Custom 1: Increased Income (%) from tar-geted agricultural commodities

Rice

US$/ Farmer

501 523 439 362

TBD

Maize 376 352 614 502

Sunflower 73 86 122 121

Sesame 192 126 227 116

Groundnut 290

Mung bean 220 198 150 202

IR1: Increased farm productivity in rice-based cropping systems

Custom 2: Farmer's gross margin per hec-tare obtained from targeted agricultural commodities with USG assistance

Rice

US$/ha

624 699 499 790

TBD

Maize 647 782 909 1268

Sunflower 333 332 253 700

Sesame 218 172 693 62

Groundnut 1201

Mung bean 475 419 236 391

Rice MT/ha 5.57 5.84 6.83 5.95 TBD

3 Most of the indicators report will be generated based on the annual performance survey. For the regular intervention report, only estimated figures can be generated based on business information reported by the private partners for indicators #EG3.2; EG3.2-14, EG3.2-26 (only private partners business volume) and EG3.2-27 (if private partner received any financial support); all other indicator progress reported based on estimated access outreach number.



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Target Base-line


As of FY2021

EG.3-10,11,12: Yield of targeted agricultural commodities among program participants with USG assistance

Maize 6.78 7.8 11.45 11.46

Sunflower 1.34 1.33 1.17 2.09

Sesame 0.81 0.58 0.89 0.4

Groundnut 2.23

Mung bean 0.85 0.94 0.64 0.83

SUB IR1.1: Increased farmer access to agricultural inputs and services

EG.3.2: Number of individuals participating in USG food security programs (inputs and services)

Participants Num-ber 500,000 48,845 231,067 143,276 423,188

EG.3.2-27: Value of agriculture-related fi-nancing accessed as a result of USG assis-tance

US$ 1,694,664 11,082,259 1,096,929 13,873,852

SUB IR 1.2: Increased intensification of rice production SUB IR 1.3: Increased production of high value crops

EG.3.2-24: Number of individuals in the ag-riculture system who have applied improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance

Num-ber

0 4,317 56,674 249,848 TBD 310,839

EG3.2-25: Number of hectares under im-proved management practices or technolo-gies with USG assistance

Hectare 0 1,415 25,092 85,363 TBD 111,870

IR 2: Increased participation of farmers and other actors in profitable market systems

EG.3.2-26: Value of annual sales of farms and firms receiving USG assistance

Ag Farms US$ 0 2,214,629 24,648,614 83,848,483 6,190 110,717,916

Private Firms US$ 0 698,873 3,501,550 3,596,234 7,796,657

SUB IR 2.1: Increased farmer upstream market actor business partnership

EG.3.2: Number of individuals participating in USG food security programs (upstream market)

Participants Num-ber 500,000 0 6,555 7,939 43,024 10 57,528

Total MT 0 7,852 122,657 330,656 10 461,175



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Target Base-line


As of FY2021

Custom 3: Increased in volume (MT) of commercial procurement from the FTF Zone

Rice MT 0 5,806 86,672 236,857 10 329,345

Maize MT 0 1,320 34,241 85,329 120,890

Sunflower MT 0 165 271 504 940

Sesame MT 0 94 1,105 5,152 6,351

Mung bean MT 0 467 368 1,846 2,681

Groundnut MT 968 968

SUB IR 2.2: Innovative business models and services adopted by value chain actors

EG.3.2-27: Value of agriculture-related fi-nancing accessed as a result of USG assis-tance

US$ 0 1,694,664 11,082,259 1,096,929 13,873,852

EG.3.1-14: Value of new USG commit-ments and private sector investment lever-aged by the USG to support food security and nutrition

USG US$ 104,254 415,836 325,437 228,271 1,073,798

Private Part-ner

US$ 81,420 549,352 1,198,054 269,997 2,098,823

SUB IR 2.3: Value chain actors' business in the FTF zone expanded

Custom 5: Increase (%) in geographic area reached by commercial outreach of produc-tion and post-harvest related inputs and ser-vices by collaborating companies in the FTF zone

Inputs Num-ber

128 0 101 104 104

Custom 6: Increase (%) in geographic area reached by commercial procurement of rice and high value crops by collaborating com-panies in the FTF zone

Procurement Num-ber

128 66 25 23 66

Total Num-ber

128 66 110 104 110



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