Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely populated countries with 150 million people. Over 40% of the population live in poverty, which includes 10% extreme poor. The causes of rural poverty are complex: scarcity of land due to over population, unequal distribution of resources, limited income opportunities due to lack of skills, etc. Most of the extreme poor are excluded from the development process.
SDC is working in two poorest parts of Bangladesh, Rajshahi and Sunamganj where 60% of the population are poor and 20% are extreme poor with expenditure less than half Swiss franc per day.
In the rural areas, most of the poor are landless and depend on day labour; to compensate the low wages, they are selling vegetables, fruits, poultry, etc from the agroforestry production of their homestead. A more intensive agroforestry production at the homestead will be the first step to improve the economic situation of the poor: better quality of the fruit tree, diversified vegetables, etc. People living under even poorer conditions, the so-called extreme poor, do not have homesteads of their own, they fully depend on day labour and have very limited opportunities for agroforestry production. For those, non-farm income generating activities need to be identified and developed.
To develop these economic activities, the poor and the extreme poor need skills and knowledge. But in reality, most state institutions do not reach the poor population to develop their skills; rather their focus is towards the medium and big farmers. To transfer knowledge, the links between the poor and extension agencies have to be developed. For this, the capacities of the extension agencies need to be upgraded by collaboration with research institutions.
The project SAAKTI, Sustainable Access to Agroforestry Knowledge, Technology and Information, has been designed to develop capacities of the poor farmers through promoting a network between the poor and the institutions holding the agroforestry knowledge. During the first phase, SAAKTI has identified competent farmers with key skills who are interested in developing their own capacity for sharing it with the community. There are about 3’000 trained farmers named “local service providers”. The project has developed their capacity in collaboration with NGOs, various agencies and even with private companies. These service providers are capable to sell their specific skills to the farmers in the domain of fruits and timber trees, poultry, livestock and vegetables. They are also selling services in the field of identifying market opportunities (e.g. producing paper bags, mini garments). Through these advices, the community members who have started income activities, have increased their additional income from daily 1,5 to 4 CHF. Around 35’000 community members are using the services of these local providers for improving their livelihoods. Beyond that, SAAKTI has strengthened the capacity of the National Agroforestry Working Group (NAWG), with a focus on dissemination of knowledge in order to extend the capacities of the line agencies.
The second phase (consolidation phase) will increase the number of qualified service providers to address 125,000 poor and extreme poor rural households; for this, SAAKTI will have to further promote and strengthen the capacity of the service providers and line agencies in Rajshahi and Sunamganj. After its good experiences from the first phase, SAAKTI will seek more collaboration from private companies, for example in the selling of quality seeds, with information services embedded. The project will continue to support the NAWG for the transfer of agroforestry knowledge to the local level. The third phase will be the exit phase.
Sustainable Land Use (SLU) is one of the thematic priorities of SDC’s country programme 2003-2007. The project is based on the SLU strategy (2002-2010) and the SLU Programme Entry Proposal (2003-2008). The implementing partner of the project is Intercooperation.SAAKTI is in line with the Poverty Reduction Strategy focusing on rural service market development and capacity development. The project SAAKTI is complementary to the SDC project LEAF (Livelihood, Empowerment and Agroforestry) which is also implemented by Intercooperation and has a focus on the producers' side, helping community organisations to express their demands and negotiate the services.
