The Agribusiness for Trade Competitiveness Project (ATC-P), branded as Katalyst, is a pioneer market systems development project contributing to sustainable poverty reduction in Bangladesh. It is implemented by Swisscontact under the umbrella of the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh. The project has been operating in Bangladesh since 2003 in three phases.
This book represents the proceedings of the FAO international technical conference dedicated to Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10) that took place in Guadalajara, Mexico on 1-4 March 2010. A major objective of the conference was to take stock of the application of biotechnologies across the different food and agricultural sectors in developing countries, in order to learn from the past and to identify options for the future to face the challenges of food insecurity, climate change and natural resource degradation.
La conférence sur « Agriculture écologique : atténuer le changement climatique, assurer la sécurité alimentaire et l’autonomie pour les sources de revenus ruraux en Afrique » s’est tenue à Addis – Abéba (Ethiopie) du 26 au 28 novembre 2008.
L’agriculture familiale est de loin la forme d’agriculture la plus répandue au monde, tant dans les pays développés que dans les pays en développement. Elle représente la principale source d’emplois dans le monde. C’est bien plus qu’une simple modalité de production alimentaire. C’est un mode de vie.
La plupart des personnes pauvres et qui souffrent de la faim, dans le monde, sont des ruraux qui tirent un maigre revenu de l’agriculture. En 2010, sur les 1,2 milliard de personnes extrêmement pauvres, quelque 900 millions vivait en milieu rural. Environ 750 millions de ces personnes travaillaient dans l’agriculture, généralement comme petits exploitants familiaux (Olinto et al., 2013). On estime que 200 millions de ruraux pauvres pourraient émigrer vers les villes ces 15 prochaines années, mais la plupart d’entre eux resteront toutefois à la campagne.
Le principal message qui est ressorti de la consultation est que l'agriculture familiale apportait une contribution cruciale aux secteurs agricole et halieutique et à la sécurité alimentaire de la région et, qu'à ce titre, les mesures de soutien de cette activité devaient faire partie intégrante de toutes les stratégies de développement de l'agriculture et de sécurité alimentaire.
This publication is providing a glimpse into how Katalyst is realising systemic change by making market systems more inclusive. As a result of the systemic changes, farmers are empowered to increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods, private companies are changing their business models as they recognize the buying power of small farmers and cater to their needs, and the public sector fulfills its role of supporting the poor more effectively by creating conducive enabling environments.
This booklet describes some recent, stand-out innovations and achievements that are the fruits of this future-oriented partnership, fully supported by the Katalyst project. As Katalyst is in its third phase of operations, some of the milestone achievements of the project are reviewed. The project expects to expand on these successful models to be implemented throughout Bangladesh.
Often, farmers excessively use chemical pesticides with detrimental effects on environmental and human health.The ‘Commercialising Bio-Pesticides in Bangladesh’ mini case study explains how the Katalyst project and private sector partner Ispahani Agro Ltd. formulated a policy recommendation on the amendment of the 1985 Pesticide Act to make the proper registration and marketing of “Bio-Pesticides” possible, allowing companies to market and distribute IPM products to a mass audience.
The goal of both of this report is to draw lessons from Katalyst’s experience which could be used more broadly. As the private sector assumes a more significant role in the architecture of development it is important to understand more clearly what benefits companies might get from greater engagement; and also what actions work best to facilitate inclusive market approaches.