AAPI Project Participates in Feed the Future Initiative The USAID-funded Accelerating Agricultural Productivity Improvement (AAPI) project is placing emphasis on the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative known as Feed the Future (FTF). FTF activities will be implemented in the south and southwest regions of Bangladesh, coinciding with the Government of Bangladesh’s focus on reviving agricultural production in the south. Intensification of rice production, diversification of agricultural production, building the capacity of farmers and small enterprises to create market linkages, building research capacity and strengthening extension services are part of the FTF program and consistent with AAPI strategies. As a key partner in the FTF initiative, AAPI is scaling up its activities. An operational plan was approved that will place over 1.2 million hectares (ha) of land used for rice production under fertilizer deep placement (FDP) technology by March 2013. Significant progress has been made in the first year of AAPI’s implementation with more than 829,000 farmers directly benefiting from FDP, resulting in an average increase of 20 percent in rice yields with one-third less use of high-cost nitrogen fertilizer. Micro-enterprise entrepreneurs have invested their own funds on a cost/share basis to procure more than 300 fertilizer briquette machines to meet farmer demand for Guti urea. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agricultural Extension are fully supportive of FDP technology diffusion and engaged in the target areas, providing information on FDP to farmers. The momentum established in the first year of AAPI suggests that significant progress can be made in extending the diffusion of FDP to other key agricultural areas in Bangladesh with similar benefits accruing to farmers that adopt the technology.
The Scale-Up Plan will target 107 upazilas (sub-districts) in 20 districts in conformity with the FTF strategy and will maintain regular intervention in the Mymensingh region (17 upazilas in two districts). AAPI will continue to address demand- and supply-related factors concurrently to achieve rapid demand growth and supply efficiency. The Scale-Up Plan will also collaborate with other USAID-funded projects – Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and Poverty Reduction by Increasing the Competitiveness of Enterprises (PRICE).
AAPI Project Hosts USAID Officials On October 23, the AAPI project hosted visiting USAID officials from Washington, D.C. Dina Esposito, director of USAID’s Food for Peace program; Paul Novick, senior Food for Peace officer; Amy Sink, Bureau of Food Security acting team leader; and Ananta Hans-Cook, Asia Bureau desk officer, visited AAPI beneficiaries. Participating from the USAID/Bangladesh mission were Richard Greene, mission director; Ramona el Hamzaoui and David Yanggen, Economic Growth office; and Aniruddha Roy, site officer. The site chosen for the event was the Rakudia village in the Babugonj upazila, Barisal district. The village has 150 ha of cultivable land with 250 farm households, 30 of which are headed by women. The main crops grown during Aman (summer) and Boro (winter) seasons are rice, pulses, vegetables and bananas. FDP is being used on more than half Delegation from USAID visited AAPI project beneficiaries in the Barisal region. of the area during the current Aman season.
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