National Seed Policy Workshop Gives Local Voices a Seat at the Table
A key pillar of Bangladesh’s economy, the agriculture sector is responsible for nearly 38 percent of the country’s employment, generating the world’s third largest output of vegetables and placing Bangladesh within the top 10 producers of seasonal fruits.
By offering open spaces for a range of stakeholders to air the challenges they face to a national audience, the Policy Activity is partnering with USAID/Bangladesh to foster more inclusive policy systems.
A June 23, 2022 technical workshop on seed policy, convened by the Feed the Future Policy LINK Bangladesh Agricultural Policy Activity, has drawn national attention to the challenges and policy gaps facing farming communities across the country. Held in the capital, Dhaka, the workshop followed local and regional consultations led by the Policy Activity over the last year, which generated the list of findings presented to key decision-makers and subject matter experts at the workshop. These included representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the Director of the USAID/Bangladesh Office of Economic Growth.
A key pillar of Bangladesh’s economy, the agriculture sector is responsible for nearly 38 percent of the country’s employment, generating the world’s third largest output of vegetables and placing Bangladesh within the top 10 producers of seasonal fruits. Threatening the country’s position, however, are climate change and rapid urbanization. The latter is decreasing labor supply as more people abandon farming in favor of industrial and urban-based occupations. For the existing community of farmers, access to high-quality, high-yield, affordable seed has also been a challenge, threatening crop productivity, quality, and diversity.
To stem the negative impact of a weakened agriculture sector on Bangladesh’s economic and nutritional goals, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have been collaborating to increase agriculture-led growth, strengthen resilience, and engage the private sector—especially from the country’s periphery. To ensure that these voices are heard among national policymakers, the Policy Activity summarized findings from its regional consultations into three key takeaways:
Insufficient regulatory oversight is contributing to the proliferation of counterfeit and uncertified seeds in the market.
National-level policies create gaps in the market system, ranging from high taxation on imported seed to suppressed market competition due to the subsidization of public seed producers.
Lack of awareness and access, coupled with poor business practices, constrain the adoption of modern, high-yielding seed varieties by farmers.
Workshop attendees from the government sector agreed with the majority of the Policy Activity’s findings and have shared plans for the Ministry of Agriculture to strengthen the resources of the Seed Certification Agency and increase its efficiency to enforce regulatory measures while making certification processes more transparent.
By offering open spaces for a range of stakeholders to air the challenges they face to a national audience, the Policy Activity is partnering with USAID/Bangladesh to foster more inclusive policy systems. The five-year Policy LINK-implemented Activity in Bangladesh works with national, regional, and community partners to develop strategic partnerships with non-state actors, particularly those representing smallholder farmers, women, and youth as well as private businesses, industry associations, and the media. The Activity also promotes learning networks that enable stakeholders from government, the private sector, academia, and civil society to collaborate across a region, technical challenge, or cohort.
Learn more about the Feed the Future Policy LINK Bangladesh Agricultural Policy Activity.