Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque has sought French technology in producing crops and digitalization of marketing systems to reduce production cost and stabilize the market.

High production cost has been standing in the way of stabilizing prices of essential goods in the market.

He was speaking at a webinar titled “E-Commerce in Agriculture Sector for Rural Development & Transformation: Sharing Experiences of Thailand”, jointly organized by France Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFB) and Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and Pacific (Cirdap) in collaboration with e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) recently.

The innovation of new varieties of rice, increased productivity and better policy support helped Bangladesh increase production despite the fact that area of farmland has decreased in the last 50 years, said the minister.

The population of Bangladesh was 75 million in 1971 and now stands at 170 million.

Sharing his personal experience, he said French technological giants that have invested in food processing industries in neighbouring India can also set up food processing industries in Bangladesh as the latter has a big market of 170 million consumers.

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Bangladesh has become a member of a mid-income country this year with per capita income rising to $2,300 surpassing India.

The minister said that although the cooperative model has not been successful in Bangladesh, the successful Thai model can shed new inspiration for farmers in this country.

Rice production cost in Bangladesh is highest among Asian countries amid scarcity of modern machinery, higher cost of fertilizer, irrigation, and labour, decline in (or static) production for vulnerable climatic conditions and low government incentives.

Global rice prices fell to a 15-month low in June, but its price is now the highest in Bangladesh than in any Asian country, according to official figures.

Rice varieties of India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and Thailand, which are similar to that of Bangladesh, are trading at $373-525 a tonne globally, disclosed the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

France Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFB) president Syed Mahmudul Haque said: “CCIFB has in its membership most of the leading agri entrepreneurs of the country like ACI, Ispahani, Square, Pran and Paragon. Our partner, Business France, also has rich experience in agri-business in India and other developing countries with their latest state-of-art technologies.”

Last year, CCIFB and Business France in collaboration with Bangladesh Investment Development Authority had organized a series of 3 webinars on agro-industry, e-commerce and 4IR and all these 3 topics, you may kindly appreciate, are interlinked with one another, added Syed Mahmudul Haque

“During these webinars, we deliberated on how to realize the huge potentials of agriculture and agro-industry focusing on production, processing and marketing by adopting modern technologies and deploying different tools or elements of 4IR including IOT, AI, cloud technology, BIG DATA etc. with the objective to enhance productivity, efficiency and marketability which would impact positively the rural livelihoods and income including empowering the women,” he added.

There has been a major thrust on developing e-commerce in the country focusing on bringing the rural areas into its fold. The government has taken initiatives to bring rural areas under the 5G network, reduce internet prices, facilitate local manufacturing of smart phones at affordable prices and enhance access to finance for the start-ups at concessionary rates of interest, the CCIFB president also said.

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“The Ministry of Commerce is now working with the industry and relevant government ministries and agencies to develop a regulatory framework for e-commerce governance aimed at boosting consumers’ confidence without, anyway, retarding the current trend of growth of e-commerce,” he added.

“From the presentations by Thailand and Bangladesh, I think that it will be a good opportunity for rural farmers and cooperatives to promote market connectivity between producers with customers through e-platform and contribute to the generation of local income and employment” Rural Development and Cooperatives Division Secretary Md Mashiur Rahman.

As an agriculture-dependent economy, since Independence when agriculture accounted for over half of the economy, Bangladesh has made great strides forward in diversifying its economic activities towards industry and services, Rahman added.

Some agri-based ecommerce platforms have been in existence as early as 2014. These platforms allowed the farmers to directly communicate with the consumer and set fair prices for their products. This sector is expected to grow exponentially thanks to cheaper smartphones, infrastructural improvements, and the high use of the internet.

“As of January 2021, there were 47.61 million internet users in Bangladesh, which is 8% higher than 2020. However, one of the biggest challenges to the path of growth is the poor digital literacy and education level of many of the producers and the consumers of Bangladesh,” Mashiur Rahman pointed out.

He also added “The major objectives and targets of the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division for the 8th Five Year Plan are:  facilitate rural growth and diversify economy for the promotion of employment and income generation;  reduce rural poverty focusing on the vulnerable rural population;  ensure balanced development across districts, with a particular focus on the poor region;  promote cooperative activities in production and financial resource pooling; and ensure linkage among farmers, non-farm employees and markets for marketing products.”

Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Director General of Cirdap Cherdsak Virapat, Cooperative Technical Officer of Agriculture Sector Cooperatives and Farmer Groups Development Division of Cooperative Promotion Department in Thailand Jaruwan Jan-in and Managing Director of ACI Limited FH Ansarey also spoke on the occasion.