Action
Research
Action Research is
another vital component of the Academy’s trident strategy to rural
development. The main purpose of undertaking action research is to find out
appropriate solutions to socio-economic problems of the countryside and develop
replicable models for rural development. The major objectives of RDA’s action
research are as follows:
i)
To test
development hypothesis in order to come up with solutions for various emerging
problems of rural life;
ii)
To evolve
appropriate strategies and methodologies to help the villagers
solve their problems;
iii)
To analyse and
evaluate the findings and experiences of action research for deciding future
course of action;
iv)
To feed the
rural development planners and practitioners in the formulation of pragmatic
rural development programmes and policies for the country; and
v)
To document and
publish the findings for consumption of wider groups of scholars, experts and
practitioners.
Till December 2007, the
Academy has undertaken as many as 31 action research projects on different
aspects of rural development and out of them 27 are completed and the rest 4 are
ongoing projects and are in different stages of progress in various places of
the country. Most of the action research projects are included in the Annual
Development Plan (ADP) of the government. Besides ADP-funded action research
projects, there are also Non-ADP projects which are financially assisted by and
collaboratively implemented with different international and national
development agencies.
Apart
from these, RDA, Bogra also undertakes a series of self-assisted demonstrative
agricultural activities in different units of its Demonstration Farm. Since its
inception, RDA has completed in total 32 action research projects. The Academy
has been implementing as many as ten action research projects during the finical
year of 2007-08.
Out
of these ten projects, four are under ADP and the rest are under Non-ADP. A
short account of the salient features of all these projects is highlighted in
the following pages. The title of all the projects are categorically classified
and presented below:
1. ADP Projects (On-going)
§
Creation of Additional Employment,
Increase in Marginal Productivity of Labour in Rural Economic Activities and
Poverty Alleviation Through Irrigation and Water Management.
§
Action Research Project on Increasing Irrigated Area through transferring
RDA-model of Irrigation and Water Management Technology in Southern and Hill
Districts of Bangladesh.
§
Action Research Project on Command Area Development using Surface Water
for Rural Livelihood Improvement by Replicating RDA Technology.
§
Comprehensive Village Development
Programme (RDA-Part).
2.
Non-ADP
Projects (On-going)
Donor
Assisted
§
Women-Led Seed Business Project
§
Good Seed Initiative (GSI) in South
Asia: Digital Video ICT Project
§
Rural Plant Clinic Project
§
Development and Dissemination of Water Saving Rice
Technologies in South Asia: RDA, Bangladesh.
Self
Assisted
§
RDA Demonstration Farm
§
Centre for Irrigation and Water
Management (CIWM)
3.
ADP Projects (In-coming, included for 2007-08 Action Plan from block
allocation)
On-going
ADP Projects
§ Creation of Additional Employment, Increase in Marginal Productivity of Labour in Rural Economic
Activities
and Poverty Alleviation Through
Irrigation and Water Management.
Water
Management Technology in Southern and Hill Districts of Bangladesh
§ Action Research Project on Command Area Development using Surface Water for Rural Livelihood
Improvement
by Replicating RDA Technology.
§
Comprehensive
Village Development Programme (CVDP)
§
Expansion,
Renovation and Modernization of Physical Infrastructure of the Rural Development
On-going
Non-ADP Projects
Women-Led
Seed Business Project
Good
Seed Initiative (GSI) in South Asia: Digital Video ICT Project
Development
and Dissemination of Water Saving Rice Technologies in South Asia: RDA,
Bangladesh.
Brief Account of the on-going
Projects including Achievements and Future Plan of Action
Creation
of Additional Employment, Increase in Marginal Productivity of Labour
in Rural Economic Activities and Poverty Alleviation Through Irrigation and
Water Management.

|
Name of the Project |
: |
Creation of Additional
Employment, Increase in Marginal Productivity of Labour in Rural Economic
Activities and Poverty Alleviation Through Irrigation and Water
Management. |
|
Background |
: |
The
proposed project is a national priority project of command area
development and safe drinking water supply for the rural people through
RDA Irrigation and water management model in different areas of
Bangladesh. The project actions are not only for ensuring low cost
irrigation in different areas of Bangladesh, it is also helping reduce
capital as well as operation
and maintenance cost of the project through ensuring safe drinking water
supply and horticulture & nursery, livestock & poultry,
aquaculture and small & cottage industry development in different
areas of Bangladesh. In
the context of modern advances, the overall irrigation management in
Bangladesh is still backward compared to the other developed and
developing countries. As a result, now a DTW with a capacity of 56
litres/sec irrigates only 17 ha of
boro paddy. But now through introducing RDA's appropriate technology, it
is possible to irrigate up to 67 ha of land with the same capacity. The
main considerable components of the project will be: installation of
Low-cost deep tubewell, introducing an appropriate irrigation water
conveyance system and safe drinking water supply network with the help of
RDA innovated appropriate water technology. Besides, by using the same
sources deep tubewell, water would be supplied to the other areas of IGAs
like vegetable production, livestock, aquaculture and food processing
& preservation. Apart from this, the project includes provision of
several training courses in such areas, as on-farm water management, well
drilling, nursery development, vegetable production, livestock & aquaculture
development, marketing of agricultural products and food processing &
preservation. Water users’ group will be set up according to the sources
of water supply in each project area. A maximum of seven sub-groups would
be formed under each water users’ group. Credit (capital) would be given
in cash as seed capital which is reimbursable within the project period.
|
|
Project Duration |
: |
01
July, 2005 to 30 June, 2008
|
|
Project Cost |
: |
Tk.
240.92 million |
|
Project Location |
: |
Rural
Development Academy (RDA), Bogra-5842. (The project will cover the entire
territory whole of Bangladesh (with a minimum of two schemes for each
greater district) |
|
Project Objectives |
: |
The
main objective of the project is to alleviate poverty through rapid
extension of RDA-developed irrigation and water management model by
creating additional employment of the rural people for better rural
livelihood and better living. The
specific objectives of the project are: i.
To extend RDA-developed low-cost multipurpose
DTW model; ii.
To replicate RDA-developed low-cost water filtration plant model
for supplying safe drinking water in the rural areas; iii.
To ensure higher production through safe water supply, skill
development training and micro-credit assistance; iv.
To ensure multipurpose use of water resources for irrigation,
drinking water supply, horticulture nursery development, poultry &
livestock rearing, fish cultivation, food processing & preservation
and so on. v.
To create additional employment for the rural people; vi.
To contribute to additional food production for meeting up
incremental national food demand; vii.
To ensure proper post-processing in agricultural production; viii.
To ensure proper marketing network of agro-products including
export through co-ordination among production, processing and modern
irrigation technology; and ix.
To enhance socio-economic quality of life of the rural people. |
|
Major Components |
: |
q
Installation of Low-cost DTW
on the basis of recent technological option developed by RDA, Bogra; q
Construction of multipurpose
overhead tank; q
Construction of low-cost
buried pipe irrigation system; q
Construction of network for
safe drinking water supply; q
Cropping technology transfer
through demonstration and training; q
Installation of nursery and
production of vegetables; q
Develop livestock, poultry
and fishery farms with community bio-gas plant; q
Introduce agro-based small
industry; q
Provision of
multi-dimensional training to different target groups; q
Distribution of monetary seed
capital among the beneficiaries; q
Identification of appropriate
credit operation system; q
Arrangement of
seminar/workshop; and q
Follow-up and
monitoring/evaluation. |
|
Implementation Strategy |
: |
The
Action research will be undertaken at least at two locations of each
greater district of Bangladesh. The selection criteria of the project
site/village will be the following: a)
The village should be well communicated with road infrastructure
for better action demonstration to the officials as well as farmers from
other areas of Bangladesh; b)
The village should have a three-phase power supply system with an
own stand-by generator; c)
The individual members/groups will have to be interested in
undertaking different types of income generating activities (like crop
irrigation, nursery, livestock, fishery, cottage industry and so on where
DTW water would be used); d)
If any GO/NGO or village based Samity (society) show their
interest to comply with all responsibilities associated with the
implementation of the project, then their location would be selected as a
project site through an agreement between them (GO/NGO or village based
Samity) and the project authority at RDA. Source of water availability,
water quality and present number of DTW in the site will be considered a
successfull for site selection. e)
A total amount of Tk. 2.2 million will be allocated for
installation of RDA-developed low-cost DTW, Multipurpose overhead tank,
Buried pipe irrigation system, Pipeline network for domestic water supply
and Water filtration Plant (if needed) through the capital investment of
the project, which is refundable to the Centre for Irrigation and Water
management (CIWM), RDA, Bogra within a maximum of ten years period without
any interest. f)
At the early/preliminary stage of the project, 10% of the capital
investment i.e. Tk 220,000.00 (Two hundred and twenty thousand) will be
given to the CIWM, RDA, Bogra by the project-implementing agency (GO/NGO
or village based Samity). g)
Project beneficiaries will be divided into different sub-groups
based on the baseline information. They will be trained up with various
IGAs skill and the total cost for this will be met from the project fund. h)
A maximum of Tk. 1,050,000.00 (One million and fifty thousand) will
be given as seed capital for credit operation under RDA-credit Programme
for the socio-economic development and improvement of quality of life of
the project beneficiaries. A
benchmark survey will be conducted at each site covering beneficiaries’
agro-socio-economic status (in the areas like current occupation,
irrigation, drinking water supply, nursery and vegetable production,
livestock and poultry rearing, aquaculture, income). After
completing the survey, a village resource book will be prepared and then
based on it, a detailed realisable work plan will be developed. |
| Recent Progress | : | In the current financial year: 2007-08 till December'07 the physical progress is 114% and the financial progress is 92% against the fund released. The total accumulative progress-Physical: 114% and financial: 71.64%. |
|
Lessons Learnt |
: |
1.
On the basis of IGA training-cum-RDA credit facility, micro
entrepreneurship has been developed in the project area.
2.
Beneficiaries are using DTW water for different purposes i.e.
irrigation, drinking, pisciculture, livestock and poultry rearing and also
for other domestic and industrial purposes. 3.
Direct participation of the project beneficiaries is ensured in the
following ways: (a)
They deposited 10% of the total capital cost of the project i.e. Tk.
220,000.00 to the Academy at the initial stage; (b)
Cost of electric connection charge is completely borne by the
management group; (c)
The internal domestic pipe network along with fittings are
completely done by the individual users; (d)
The operation and maintenance cost of the sub-project are also
borne by the groups; |
|
Future
Plan |
: |
|

|
Name of the Project |
: |
Action
Research Project on Increasing Irrigated Area through Transferring
RDA-model of Irrigation and Water Management Technology in Southern and
Hill Districts of Bangladesh |
|
Background |
: |
Agriculture
in Bangladesh still dominates our economy in terms of scale of employment
generation if not in terms of contribution to the GDP. Agriculture sector
traditionally was dependent on natural rainfall. But with the advancement
of science and technology and under the pressure of a very fastly growing
population, modernization of agriculture became inevitable. All options of
modernizing agriculture had to be exercised. Supplementing the volatile
and erratic rainfall causing fluctuation in agricultural yield was
identified as one of the major remedial measures for sustainable growth in
agricultural output. Thus
mechanized irrigation along-with the application of chemical fertilizer in
appropriate rates and HYV seeds were introduced. Surface water resources
might be the potential means of irrigation to our agriculture but because
of its alternating abundance and scarcity characteristics, it failed to be
a regular and reliable source of irrigation. Thus the scientists had no
other obvious choice than extracting sub-surface water for irrigation
purpose. In
the Hill districts of Bangladesh some of the valleys are considered to be
quite suitable for installation of DTWs which may increasingly facilitate
irrigation for crop production and multipurpose uses of water. In 2005-06,
with the technical support of RDA, Rangamati Hill District Council already undertook a
Feasibility study on application of RDA-developed Multipurpose DTW
Technology in the Rangamati Hill District. The study recommended that
out of 32 sample sites 26 would be chosen for using mad which
sources and result of test boring in 5 sites (randomly selected from these
26 ) 3 were suitable for DTW. Remaining 21 sites were subjected to conduct
test boring for introduction of RDA-developed DTW Technology.
Creation
of similar facilities is imperative in the southern districts of
Bangladesh to use underground water for multiple purpose uses (irrigation,
drinking, and other agro-domestic uses and enterprise development.
Adoption of RDA DTW technology can relieve coastal people from the use of
saline Bay water in multiple purposes. |
|
Project
Duration |
: |
01
July 2006 to 30 June 2009. |
|
Project
Cost |
: |
Tk.
141.394 million |
|
Project Location |
: |
Chittagong:
3 sites (Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachari); Sylhet:
2 sites (Sunamganj and Maulabhibazar); Dhaka:
3 sites (Manikganj, Narayangonj and Gazipur ); Khulna:
2 sites (Satkhira & Bagherhat); and Barishal:
2 sites (Pirojpur and Jhalokathi) |
|
Project Objectives |
: |
The
main objective of the project is to meet up the increasing demand of food
and provide food security for uplifting the socio-economic condition of
the rural people by transferring RDA- model of irrigation and water
management technology in the non irrigated areas of Southern and Hill
Districts. The specific objectives of the project
are: i.
To explore the possibility of the best use of surface and
sub-surface water irrigation in the non irrigated areas; ii.
To undertake exploratory drilling for finding best aquifer for DTW
installation; iii.
To install observation well for ground water monitoring; iv.
To demonstrate and disseminate RDA-model (multipurpose use of water
resources) for irrigated command area development; v.
To conduct training
programmes for stakeholders on skill
development IGAs for their capacity building and poverty alleviation; vi.
To enhance food production by increasing irrigated area within the
project area. vii.
To ensure enhanced crop production by selecting appropriate
cropping patterns in the costal and hill areas. |
|
Major Component |
: |
q
Installation of Low-cost DTW
on the basis of recent technological option developed by RDA, Bogra; q
Construction of multipurpose
overhead tank; q
Construction of low-cost
buried pipe irrigation system; q
Construction of network for
safe drinking water supply; q
Cropping technology transfer
through demonstration and training; q
Installation of nursery and
production of vegetables; q
Develop livestock, poultry
and fisheries farm with Community bio-gas plant; q
Introduction of agro-based
small industry; q
Provision of
multi-dimensional training to the different target group; q
Distribution of seed capital
among the beneficiaries; q
Identification of appropriate
credit operation system; q
Arrangement of
seminar/workshop; and q
Follow-up and
monitoring/evaluation. |
|
Implementation
Strategy |
: |
The implementation strategy will be: A.
Selection of site location, group/institution a)
The village should be well communicated by road for better
demonstration of the project activities to the officials as well as
farmers of other areas of Bangladesh; b)
The village should have a three-phase power supply or the villagers
should have their own stand-by generator; c)
The individual members/groups have to be interested in undertaking
different types of income generating activities (like crop irrigation,
nursery, livestock, fisheries, cottage industry and so on.); d)
If any GO/NGO or village based Samity is interested to take up all
responsibilities of implementing the project, then village would be
selected as a project site and the project would be implemented through
an agreement made between them (GO/NGO or village based Samity) and
the project authority. Source of water availability, water quality and
current number of DTW in the area will be taken as essential consideration
for site selection. e)
A benchmark survey will be conducted for each site covering the
beneficiaries’ socio-economic status (in terms of irrigation, drinking
water supply, nursery and vegetable production, livestock and poultry
rearing, aquaculture, other occupation, income). After completing the
survey, a village resource book will be prepared and then based on this, a
detailed work plan will be prepared. f)
According to the benchmark findings, project beneficiaries are to
be divided into different sub-groups and be given various skill
development training fundable by the project. B.
Direct participation of the beneficiaries a)
A total
amount of Tk. 2.5 million will be allocated for installation of
RDA-developed Low-cost DTW, Multipurpose overhead tank, Buried pipe
irrigation network, Pipeline network for domestic water supply and Water
filtration Plant (if needed) through the capital investment of the
project, which is refundable to the Centre for Irrigation and Water
management (CIWM), RDA, Bogra within a maximum of ten years period
without any interest. b)
At the
early/preliminary stage of the project implementation, 10% of the capital
investment i.e. Tk 250,000.00 (Two hundred and fifty thousand) will be
given to the CIWM, RDA, Bogra by the project-implementing agency (GO/NGO
or village based Samity). c)
A
maximum of Tk. 1.0 million will be given as seed capital for credit
operation under RDA-credit Programme for the socio-economic development
and improvement of quality of life of the project beneficiaries. |
| Recent Progress | : | In the current financial year: 2007-08 till December'07 the physical progress is 41% and the financial progress is 100% against the fund released. The total accumulative progress-Physical: 13% and financial: 50%. |
|
Lessons Learnt |
: |
RDA-model
of irrigation and water management technology could be replicated in the
southern and hill districts of Bangladesh with some modifications. |
|
Future
Plan |
: |
RDA-model
of irrigation and water management technology would be replicated in the
other areas of southern and hill districts of Bangladesh. |
|
Name of the Project |
: |
Action Research Project on Command Area Development using Surface
Water for Rural Livelihood Improvement by Replicating RDA Technology. |
|
Background |
: |
National
water planning in Bangladesh dates back to 1964 when a 20-year Master Plan
was prepared with emphasis on large-scale flood control, drainage and/or
irrigation projects. The World Bank conducted a land and water sector
study in 1972, which advocated for small and medium-scale projects through
minor irrigation technology. After the devastating floods of 1987 and
1988, a five-year (1990-1995) Flood Action Plan (FAP) was launched with
focus on flood mitigation. Besides, earlier water management plans focused
mainly on agricultural development, neglecting the water needs of other
sectors-especially the social and environmental impacts of water resources
development interventions. The
success of an irrigation project in meeting these requirements depends, to
a large extent, on the proper functioning of sources of supply of water
(surface or ground water sources), its water conveyance (distribution)
system and field level water use. About
75% irrigation has been done though ground water in Bangladesh which is
the highest all over the world that creates extra thrust on ground water
sources. Except Command Area Development, Bangladesh now has major programmes on
flood management, drainage improvement, and water conservation. The above
infrastructure development is necessary but there should be provision for
ensuring proper irrigation and water management in the field through
buried pipe or open canal systems with some water control structures,
which remains yet to be accomplished. This situation deters surface water
is to reach farmer’s field for irrigation. It
is believed that appropriate water distribution system can increase the
command area under any type of irrigation equipment. RDA’s experience of
buried pipe irrigation¾a
highly effective water saving technology, could be introduced in different
sub-project areas of the Small Scale Water Resources Development Sector
Project (SSWRDSP), of LGED and the areas where an adequate magnitude of
surface water source is available during the lean period. |
|
Project Duration |
: |
01
July 2007 to 30 June 2012. |
|
Project Cost |
: |
Tk.
149.082 million |
|
Project Location |
: |
Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogra (A
total of 25 sites will be selected on the basis of surface water
availability in any district of Bangladesh. Preference will be given on
SSWRDS project sites implemented by LGED. ) |
|
Project Objectives |
: |
The main objective of the project is to
ensure efficient use of surface water resources for command area
development by increasing crop production as well as creating additional
employment generation through IGA, thus helping upliftment of the
socio-economic conditions of the rural people for better livelihood. The
specific objectives of the project are as follows: i)
To install buried pipe irrigation system for economic and efficient
use of surface water resources for crop production; ii)
To demonstrate RDA developed low-cost buried pipe irrigation model
for wider replication throughout Bangladesh; iii)
To conduct training on the know hows of different types of Income
Generating Activities (IGAs) for the beneficiaries’ capacity building
supported by RDA credit programme; iv)
To increase food production for meeting up the demand of increased
population in Bangladesh in the 21st century. v)
To develop sustainable project management model. vi)
To reduce irrigation cost and save electricity thus helping reduce
load shedding during dry season. vii)
To strengthen surface water irrigation and water management for
maintaining ecological balance of ground water resources. |
|
Major Components |
: |
q
Construction of Header tank; q
Construction of low-cost
buried pipe irrigation system; q
Cropping technology transfer
through demonstration and training; q
Installation of nursery and
production of vegetables; q
Develop livestock, poultry
and fisheries farm with community Bio-gas plant; q
Introduction of agrobased
small industry; q
Provision of
multi-dimensional training to the different target group; q
Distribution of seed capital
among the beneficiaries; q
Identification of appropriate
credit operation system; q
Arrangement of
seminar/workshop; and q
Follow-up and
monitoring/evaluation. |
|
Implementation Strategy |
: |
The
implementation strategy will be: a)
The village should be well communicated for better demonstration of
the project actions and achievements to the officials as well as farmers
from other areas of Bangladesh; b)
The village should have three-phase power supply or the
beneficiaries should have their own stand-by generator; c)
The individual members/groups have to be interested for undertaking
different types of income generating activities (like crop irrigation,
nursery, livestock, fisheries, cottage industry development etc.); d)
If any GO/NGO or village based Organisation/ Samity is interested
to take up all pertinent responsibilities to implement the project in
their area, this will be taken as a project site and the project would be
implemented these through an agreement between them (GO/NGO or village
based Samity) and the project authority at RDA. Water availability, water
quality and present number of DTW in that area will be primarily
considered for site selection. e)
A total amount of Tk. Tk 5.963 million will be allocated for
installation of RDA-developed Low-cost DTW, Multipurpose overhead tank,
Buried pipe irrigation system, Pipeline network for domestic supply and
Water filtration plant (if needed) through the capital investment of the
project, which is refundable to the
Centre for Irrigation and Water
management (CIWM), RDA, Bogra within a maximum of ten years period without
any interest as per to the agreement. f)
At early/preliminary stage of the project implementation, 5% of the
capital investment i.e. Tk 298,000 (Two hundred and ninety eight thousand)
will be given to the CIWM, RDA, Bogra by the project-implementing agency
(GO/NGO or village based Samity). g)
Project beneficiaries are to be divided into different sub-groups
as per the baseline survey findings. Group members will be trained up with
various IGA skill development technologies and the training and other
costs will be met from the project fund. h)
A maximum of Tk. 1.0 million will be given to the beneficiary as
seed capital for of credit operation under RDA-credit Programme for the
socio-economic development and improvement of quality of life of them. i)
A benchmark survey will be conducted for each site covering their
socio-economic status (occupation, income, irrigation, drinking water
supply, nursery and vegetable production, livestock and poultry rearing,
aquaculture). After completing the survey, a village resource book will be
prepared and then, using it, a detailed work plan will be prepared. |
| Recent Progress | : | In the current financial year: 2007-08 till December'07 the physical progress is 75% and the financial progress is 62% against the fund released. The total accumulative progress is 62%. |
|
Lessons Learnt |
: |
RDA-model
of irrigation and water management technology could be replicated in areas
with available surface water resources. |
|
Future Plan |
: |
The
project activity would be extended in new the project areas through cost
sharing basis. |
Comprehensive
Village Development Programme (CVDP)

|
Name of the Project |
: |
Comprehensive
Village Development Programme (CVDP) |
|
Background |
: |
Comprehensive
Village Development Programme (CVDP) was initiated by Bangladesh Academy
for Rural Development (BARD), Comilla in 1975 in the name of ‘Total
Village Development Programme (TVDP)’ with a view to examining the
efficacy of one village one organisation in a village. The main
thrust was given to mobilisation of local resources and its utilisation so
that the villagers would be self-reliant irrespective of age, sex, class
and professions. The project was included in the 3rd FYP and
renamed as ‘Comprehensive Village Development Programme’. In the
second phase during the Fourth FYP, Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogra
was involved with the implementation of the project in 1991-92. CVDP
was one of the action research projects of the Academy being implemented
in 40 villages of four Upazilas under Rajshahi and Khulna divisions since
1991-92. The main objectives of the project were to (i) promote overall
development of all segments of population of a village by bringing them
under a single co-operative organization and (ii) evolve a replicable
rural development model. The Experimental Phase of the project was wound
up in June 2004. At
the Experimental phase CVDP was able to create some positive results for
the betterment of the rural people. With the intention of extending its
results throughout the country a series of discussions and seminars on the
results, problems and potentials of CVDP were held in the Ministry of
Local Government Rural Development (LGRD) and Co-operatives and Planning
Commission. Finally, the government was convinced to adopt CVDP as a
model concept for rural development, but recommended for further
implementation for three more years on pilot basis before
replication throughout the country. The
pilot phase of the project started in July 2005. The Rural Development and
Co-operatives Division of the Ministry of LGRD & Co-operatives is
sponsoring the project. RDA, BARD, Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB)
and Co-operative Department are working as implementing agencies. In all
the project covers 1575 villages of 21 Upazilas from 19 districts. |
|
Project Duration |
: |
July 2005 – June 2008 |
|
Project Cost |
: |
Tk. 486.47 lacs (RDA
part) |
|
Project Location |
: |
300
Villages under Sherpur (Bogra), Sadullapur (Gaibandha), Mirpur (Kushtia)
and Jhenaidah Sader (Jhenaidah) Upazilas of Rajshahi and Khulna Divisions. |
|
Project Objectives |
: |
General Objective
The
main objective of CVDP is to promote overall development of all segments
of population of a village through a single co-operative organisation and
verify its replicability throughout the country. Specific
objectives
Revitalize and reconstitute appropriate kind of institutional
infrastructure for development; b) Mobilise all sections and functional groups of population and
organize them for development; c) Mobilise all kinds of
material resources and inputs and maximize their utilization and production; d) Provide management and
skill development training to the co-operators in for order to create employment opportunities; e)Motivate the cooperators to
develop capital-base for rendering micro-credit facilities; and f) Cater to the
social, psychological and health needs of the rural population for a
sustainable development. |
|
Major Components |
: |
-
Training and Motivation; §
Open Membership; §
Trained Village Development
Workers; §
Capital Accumulation and
Investment; §
Self-employment and Income
Generation; §
Social Development; §
Village Development Plan; and §
Monthly Joint and
Coordination Meeting. |
|
Implementation
Strategy |
: |
1.
One Village One Co-operative. 2.
Emphasis on training and
transfer of technology. 3.
Linkage between Upazila level
offices and co-operative organizations for
necessary support-services. 4.
Preparation of Village
Resource Book and best use of it for planning. 5.
Local resource mobilisation. 6.
Capital formation and best
utilization of it in order to generate
employment and income. 7.
Monthly Joint Meeting and
Participatory Planning. |
|
Lesson Learnt |
: |
During 1989-2004 i)
People were organized under a village-based co-operative
organization irrespective of age, sex, class and occupations. But 100%
coverage of populations would be a hard task. ii)
‘Comprehensive approach’ seemed to be better than ‘Target
group’ approach. iii)
A working relation between Upazila level offices and village
organizations was developed. iv)
Training not credit
principle was found effective. v)
The trend of social
development indicators was positive. During
the Present Phase (2005-2008)
i)
Villagers are eager to be
members of CVDP co-operatives. This is a positive indication and the
project should give priority to institutional development and awareness
building programme through training and motivation. ii)
Capital accumulation and
investment should be strengthened in order to enhance employment and
income opportunities. iii)
To share the experience and
knowledge of the good societies, the members of the relatively bad
societies may be taken to the good societies under study tour programme.
Thus, a competition among the societies to be better off organisation is
found effective for healthy growth of co-operatives. iv)
Holding of Monthly Joint and
coordination meeting at the village level should be given emphasis to
uphold the participatory planning and implementation process. v)
Four organizations are
involved in implementation of CVDP. There should be close coordination
among the implementing agencies. |
|
Future Plan |
: |
The
project has carried out field level experiment for 18 years and brought
about a lot positive results in the field of institutional development,
family coverage, membership enrollment, capital formation, health and
sanitation improvement, plantation and so on. The findings show more
positive results than negative. Based on the past experience the
government agreed to take it as a Pilot Scheme in 21 Upazilas. It is
expected that after completion, CVDP may be launched as a National
Programme under the Ministry of LGRD and Co-operatives.[1] |
Expansion,
Renovation and Modernization of Physical Infrastructure of the Rural Development
Academy, Bogra
Objectives
v To develop training, research and action
research facilities of the Academy;
v To facilitate institutional capacity in terms
of human resources development; and
v To strengthen the physical infrastructure for
improving service quality of the Academy.
Observation
1.
Implementation of this project will enable to maximize pre-planned use of land
in the campus of the Academy to demonstrate the participants of training
courses.
2.
Most of the Skill Development Training Courses conducted by the Academy aim at
self-employment generation and micro-enterprise development through government
and other interventions which will be used to increase employment and income
earning opportunities for the poor.
3.
Proposed renovation works of Auditorium, Hostels, Medical Centre, Library,
Faculty and Residential buildings; acquisition of furniture and constructions of
selected office and other buildings will increase at least 10% of training
participants’ accommodation, but those are not enough according to continuous
growing demand of training, research and action research facilities.
4.
The project might be extended and revised for another 02 more years.
Recent Progress:
In the current financial year: 2007-08 till December'07 the physical progress is 35% and the financial progress is 56% against the fund released. The total accumulative progress-Physical: 35% and financial: 56%.
Non-ADP Projects
Women-Led
Seed Business

Farmers of Bangladesh grow a
crop for consumption and commercial
purposes and generally save a portion as seed, which is poor in health and never
tested for quality. Continuous use of such poor quality seed leads to lower crop
yield for obvious reasons. This picture gives a clear indication to improve seed
production, processing, preservation and marketing at farm level and also to
encourage farmers for using quality seed to minimize yield gap.
Objectives
The overall objective of the
project is to evolve a women entrepreneurship model for Bangladesh.
The specific objectives of
the project are:
v Organize, motivate and train rural women in
groups.
v Produce and market quality seed by the women
group members.
v Increase quality seed supply at farm level
through women-led seed business and
v Improve livelihood of women-entrepreneur.
Progress
v During 2006-2007 SID/DANIDA extended support to
220 rural women under 11 groups as project participants and they successfully
marketed 24,506 Kg (10 groups) Aman seed, 4170 Kg (3 groups) Boro seed and 65 kg
(1 group) Summer Vegetable seed of distinguished quality.
v The project has established a modern seed
health laboratory at RDA at a cost of Tk. 15.00 lac. under the technical and
financial support from SID/DANIDA-Seed Wing-MoA. Presently the laboratory is
catering all kinds of seed testing and training facilities to women, farmer,
NGOs and private sector seed entrepreneurs.
v Observing the success of the action
research project, the WORLD BANK through SEDF has come forward with a programme
for scaling-up the Women-Led Seed Entrepreneurship model to an additional 400
women in different locations under a tripartite agreement among Seed Wing/MoA-SEDF-WORLD
BANK and RDA, Bogra.
Good
Seed Initiative in South Asia (GSI)

Digital ICT Project
CABI, UK / SDC Financed
Good
Seed Initiative (GSI) is a Global Forum co-ordinated by CABI Bio Science in UK.
RDA is one of the most important GSI member and co-orninator for GSI South Asia
since January, 2005. RDA operates GSI activities in collaboration with WARDA,
West Africa, TMSS, AAS, BRRI, BARI, IRRI-FoSHoL, AIS, and BTV (Mati-O-Manush).
GSI S. Asia explores seed related farmers innovations and disseminate knowledge
to wider farming community via video communication in a cost effective way,
assess their impact and capture emerging local innovations for new videos.
Objective:
v The main focus of GSI is to develop farmer
centered seed system allover the world.
Progress:
v In 2006-2007 GSI S. Asia produced a complete
set of 7 rice seed production digital video and 25 TV spots on different rice
seed technology.
v GSI videos and TV spots are being telecast once
in a week on a regular basis in Bangladesh Television.
v GSI could be able to reach more than 2 million
farmers of Bangladesh within a period of one year.
v GSI could be able to attract the attention of
policymakers. The Honourable Adviser for Agriculture Dr. C. S Kariam instructed
the authority concerned including DAE & AIS to scale-up the GSI model all
over the country.
v RDA has completed the impact assessment survey
of GSI videos by capturing social, natural, physical, human and financial
capitals.
v GSI videos are being widely used by different
organizations in West Africa, Cambodia, and Nepal and India.
Recently, West Bengal Government has taken a massive programme to bring 60 lac.
farmers under GSI video coverage within one year.
CABI, UK / DFID Financed

In Bangladesh pests and
diseases are real threats to agriculture production causing on an average up to
30% crop losses in farmer’s fields. In order to protect crops from
damage, farmers are becoming increasingly dependent on the use of dangerous and
highly toxic pesticides .which are used with increasing frequency. In most
cases, farmers use pesticides on the basis of recommendations and advice of the
local pesticide dealers, who themselves are not professionals. Overuse of
pesticides comes from a misunderstanding of what is causing the problem, and is
often attributed to insect-pests due to their high visibility. Farmers also have
common misconceptions, belief for all insects to be pests.
Objective:
To develop a community owned
rural plant clinic model for Bangladesh.
Progress:
Three Rural Plant Clinics (RPC)
have been set up in a Union named Amrool on experimental basis. Each of the RPC
is providing plant health service to the farmers of surrounding 6-8 villages.
The clinics are being set up in the premises of elected women member of Union
Parishad who were undergone an intensive training on how to organize, run and
maintain simple but effective community run Plant Clinic. RPCs are providing
written prescription to the farmers for solving their plant health problems.
After a considerable period a nominal fee will be charged to run the clinics
self-sustained. Initially, RDA is providing technical back up including regular
training, monitoring, manual development, promotional activity and finally, RDA
is intended to establish linkages between RPCs, national plant protection labs.
and DAE as a means of sustainable exit strategy.
Development
and Dissemination of Water Saving Rice Technologies in South Asia: RDA,
Bangladesh.
IRRI / ADB Financed

Objectives
:
v The main objective of the project is to develop
and disseminate those varieties that can produce high yield under reduced water
condition. The specific objectives are:
v to identify varieties from IRRI and BRRI which
can produce high yield either under AWD or aerobic management (on station
research),
v to evaluate those identified varieties with
farmers who face serious water shortage or very high water costs (Farmer
participatory on farm research),
v to pilot dissemination of proven water-saving
rice varieties and management systems to farmers, and
v to identify possible biotic causes (weed, root
health etc.) of yield decline under water saving management and develop
mitigation measure.
Progress:
q In Boro-2007 season 25 promising IR Lines were
identified in accordance with the BRRI recommendation, RDA on-station results
and PVS recommendation.
q Six sites for on farm experiments were
identified purposively based on the GIS database.
q Baseline survey has been completed covering 150
farmers from six sites.
q In April, 2007 RDA organized 3 international
water saving events including a review and planning meeting and two training
courses on aerobic management and root health management. Events were
participated by scientists from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, USA, IRRI
and ADB. The root health training was conducted by the scientists from cornell
University, USA.
q In Boro 2007, RDA organized a PVS workshop for
the farmers and officials of the selected sites to create scope in selecting
water saving rice varieties of farmer’s choice.
q The concept of establishing water
observation-well in the rice field as demonstrated by RDA during last Boro
season could able to attract the attention of farmers, scientists and
policymakers. The secretary, MoA has instructed BADC officials to arrange
demonstration of the technology all over the country.
q As a dissemination strategy RDA is developing a
digital video documentary covering every step of water saving rice technology
development in Bangladesh. After the end of the project it will serve as a
useful tool for extension training.
q A set of mother trials (Scientist managed) have
already been established in the selected sites namely, Shapahar, Patnitala,
Ghoraghat, Kaligong, Sherpur and Shajahanpur Upazilla during the on going rice
season. On-station trials have also been established at RDA experiment station
under AWD, aerobic management.