GAIBANDHA, Feb 18: Speakers at a function here on Thursday said proper value chain system and suitable environment could help farmers get fair prices against their crops.
They made the comments while addressing a market development and value chain training on OFSP (orange-fleshed sweet potato) at the training centre at Radhakrishnapur area under Sadar upazila in the morning. The OFSP is a climate resilient and pesticide free crop.
They expressed their view that sustainable market development is necessary to sell the produce at reasonable rate side by side to inspire the farmers to farm the OFSP from next seasons at larger scale to earn economic profit and meet the nutritional demand.
International Potato Centre (CIP) Bangladesh organised the training for the lead farmers, and local vegetables traders (wholesalers and retailers) under SUSTAIN Project being implemented by Brac at grassroots level with the financial support of UKAID.
The objective of the training is to create linkage and network between the OFSP farmers and the local vegetable traders so that the farmers could have access to the competitive market easily and sell OFSP at better prices.
The participants were imparted training on different issues including basic ideas on bazaar, value chain, supply chain, entrepreneurs' development, business management, maturity study and harvesting process of OFSP, post collection management and collection point formation elaborately.
Post Harvest and Value Chain Coordinator of SUSTAIN Project M. Kamruzzaman, Field Coordinator M. Enamul Haque, Programme Officer M. Ramzan Ali, and Programme Assistant Munjur-e-Shahid conducted the training sessions as resource persons.
A total of 20 farmers and vegetable traders from Sadar and Fulchhari upazilas participated in the training spontaneously.
A total of 380 bighas of land owned by 2,500 flood- and disaster-affected farmers of the upazilas have been brought under the OFSP farming for the first time at the initiative of the CIP Bangladesh in partnership with Brac under SUSTAIN Project, said an official.
The farmers would harvest OFSP from next March; he said adding that after meeting their family demand on Vitamin A they would sell the root of OFSP to the traders.