Commercialization of Biofortified Crops (CBC)

Funded by HarvestPlus and GAIN

First Track 2nd Phase

(April 15 – June 30, 2021)

Submitted to
Dr. Md. Khairul Bashar
Country Manager, HarvestPlus Bangladesh

Submitted by:

Society Development Committee (SDC)

Contract No.: 2021C025.SDC

June 2021

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Commercialization of Biofortified Crops (CBC)
Funded by HarvestPlus and GAIN

First Track 2nd Phase

(April 15 – June 30, 2021)

Submitted to
Dr. Md. Khairul Bashar
Country Manager, HarvestPlus Bangladesh

Submitted by:

Kazi Ashraful Hassan

Society Development Committee (SDC)
Jaman Monjil, Road no. 01, Goalchamot, Faridpur
E-mail: sdc.bangladesh@yahoo.com
Agreement No.: 2021C025.SDC

June 2021
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Contents
PROJECT BRIEF ........................................................................................................................................ 4
LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................. 5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 6
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 7
1.1Background .................................................................................................................................... 7
1.2 Working Area and Targeted Beneficiaries .................................................................................... 7
2. Progress and Results ........................................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Aggregation Day Campaign ........................................................................................................... 8
2.2 Linking grain value chain actors’ technology transfer .................................................................. 9
2.3. Rice aggregation and segregation .............................................................................................. 12
3.Major Challenges ............................................................................................................................... 12
4.Sustainability ...................................................................................................................................... 13
5. Lessons Learned ................................................................................................................................ 13
6. Recommendations ............................................................................................................................ 13
7. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 13
8. Annexure ........................................................................................................................................... 14
9.Publications and Communications................................................................................................ 15-22

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PROJECT BRIEF

Agreement number : 2021C025.SDC

Project Title : Commercialization of Bio-fortified Crops (CBC)

Project Start Date : 15 April 2021

Project End Date : 25 December 2021
Reporting Period : From 15 April 2021 to 30 June 2021
Project Budget : BDT 826,223 (approx. US Dollars 10,002)
Implementing Partner : Society Development Committee (SDC)
Project Area : Faridpur and 02 upazilas of Gopalganj district
Targeted beneficiaries : Farmers, seed retailers, aggregators, rice millers and Grain
Consumers.
Objectives :The project will contribute to improve food and nutrition
security by the enhanced and sustained rice productivity
through the promotion of zinc enriched modern rice varieties.
Key Achievements : Major Key results achieved in the reporting period are as
follows:
1. 474.83 MT paddy of the variety BRRI dhan74 (452.13 MT)
& BRRI dhan84 (22.7 MT) were aggregated by aggregators
and sent to mill for appearing it to the market branding by
ZINC RICE.
2. 07 aggregation day campaigns were arranged where
farmers were sold zinc rice to aggregators
3. 01 Rice Grain Value Chain Actors Meeting also held in the
presence of related GO officials, lead farmers, aggregators
and rice millers.
HarvestPlus Focal Person : Dr. Md Khairul Bashar
Country Manager, HarvestPlus Bangladesh
Contact Number: +88 01711283982
E-mail: k.bashar@cgiar.org
Partner’s Contact Person : Kazi Ashraful Hassan
Executive Director, SDC.
Contact Number: +88 01714022987
E-mail: sdc.bangladesh@yahoo.com

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

BRRI Bangladesh Rice Research Institute

GAIN Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
CIAT Centro International de Agricultural Tropical
CGIAR Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research
IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute
HPBD HarvestPlus Bangladesh
SDC Society Development Committee
DAE Department of Agricultural Extension
DD Deputy Director
ADD Additional Deputy Director
UAO Upazila Agriculture Officer
AEO Agriculture Extension Officer
SAADO Sub Assistant Agriculture Development Officer
Demo Demonstration
Kg Kilogram
Zn Zinc
PoP Point of Purchase
PoS Point of Sales

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Commercialization of Bio-fortified Crops (CBC)” project, funded by HarvestPlus and GAIN
has been implemented by Society Development Committee (SDC) aiming to improve food
and nutrition security by the enhanced and sustained rice productivity through the promotion
of zinc enriched modern rice varieties. To sustain this activity HarvestPlus Bangladesh
(HPBD) has decided to go to value chain approaches so that all market actors can get a
profitable business through this activity.

HPBD has taken several project implementing strategies to make success value chain
approaches during this project period in which SDC has completed several activities; such as
:07 aggregation day campaigns were arranged in Faridpur and Gopalganj district where
farmers were sold zinc rice to aggregators at the higher market price. There was a festival
atmosphere at every aggregation point so that the local farmers are motivated to cultivate zinc
rice. Moreover, 01 Rice Grain Value Chain Actors Meeting also held in the presence of
related GO officials, lead farmers, aggregators and rice millers so that a rapport is built
among all rice grain value chain actors and rice is processed and appear in the market at its
own variety name. Finally, 04 aggregators were fully dedicated to purchase zinc rice from
farmers and they purchased 474.83 MT paddy of the variety BRRI dhan74 (452.13 MT) &
BRRI dhan84 (22.7 MT) which were sold to 06 rice millers for processing.
We have got good responses from farmers in most of the places. A large quantity of farmers
has been motivated to cultivate BRRI dhan74 and BRRI dhan84 in the next Boro season.
SDC think, in their working area, most of the farmers as well as general people have been
informed about the benefits of zinc rice through different market promotional activities with
the support of CBC project. As a result, at present, a large quantity of people is cultivating as
well as consuming their produced bio-fortified crops (zinc rice).

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1Background

Though Bangladesh has made real progress in advancing nutrition in the last two decades, a
larger percentage of people in the country, especially illiterate and poor, are still suffering for
malnutrition in which zinc deficiency is prominent. A research said that, in Bangladesh, more
than 36% of children under the age of 5 suffer from zinc malnutrition, about 44% of girls
between the ages of 15 and 19 are getting shorter due to zinc deficiency and 56% of women
suffer from zinc deficiency malnutrition. In solving this problem, HarvestPlus has been
working on it in Bangladesh. HarvestPlus is an international research organization founded in
2003 by the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and co-
convened by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Washington
DC, USA, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) based in Cali,
Colombia. To remove the zinc deficiency, in the previous years, HarvestPlus Bangladesh
(HPBD) would disseminate free seed of zinc enriched rice varieties such as BRRI dhan62,
BRRI dhan72, BRRI dhan74 etc. to farmers for convincing them to produce and consume
zinc rice. They also made educated the famers on the techniques of zinc rice production.
Recently, HPBD changed its` project implementation strategy. Since the last years, HPBD
intended to go for commercialization of biofortified crops (zinc rice) to make a secured
production and distribution channel of zinc rice so that Zinc rice is sold in the market with
its` own variety name. To do it, HPBD intended to work with the cooperation of Global
Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) initiating this project. GAIN is a Swiss-based
foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to minimize the human suffering caused
because of malnutrition. Working with governments, businessman and civil society, the aim
of (GAIN) transforms food systems so that they deliver more nutritious foods for all people,
especially the most vulnerable.

1.2 Working Area and Targeted Beneficiaries

SDC has implemented Commercialization of Bio-fortified Crops (CBC) project in Faridpur
and 02 upazila (Gopalganj sadar & Kashiyani) of Gopalgonj districts. Targeted direct
beneficiaries are 540 farmers, more than 20 seed dealers/retailers, 20 aggregators, 10 grain
retailers and 05 millers. Except it, a lot of farmers and rice consumers under the working area
and out of the working area will be benefited from this project, because some of them will
produce zinc rice and some of them will consume it or both.

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2. Progress and Results
2.1 Aggregation Day Campaign
SDC has arranged 07 Aggregation Day Campaign at 01 Upazila of Faridpur and Gopalganj
district to create a vibration among the
farmers regarding zinc rice cultivation,
selling and supports in commercialization.
There was a festival atmosphere at all
aggregation campaigns where CBC provided
recording on zinc rice aggregation were rang
through loud speaker. Snacks and leaflet on
zinc rice were provided to all farmers and
guests.
Objectives:
Objectives of the event were:

➢ To aggregate zinc rice from the nearest pocket areas in a single place through
maintaining proper segregation technique.
➢ To encourage nearest farmers in selling their surplus production with market price.
➢ To motivate and persuade the farmers for cultivating, selling and commercialization
of zinc rice.
➢ To communicate villagers to make aware about the benefits of zinc rice.
Selection of aggregation campaign areas:
SDC selected the aggregation campaign areas on the basis of-
➢ Local level market areas during the weekly hat days.
➢ Easily accessible point for the particular community.
➢ Local familiar rice aggregation points.
COVID-19 consideration:
Considering the worldwide pandemic situation, we took huge safety to keep protected all
from COVID-19 during the event, such as:

⮚ Maintained social distances

⮚ All participants used new mask provided by us
⮚ All participants used hand sanitizer after every 15/20 minutes
Output: Output of the event were:
➢ Neighbour farmers were well known about benefits of zinc rice. So, they were fully
motivated to cultivate, consume and sell zinc rice.
➢ Neighbour aggregators were encouraged to purchase and segregate zinc rice for
selling to rice millers.
➢ All the surrounding consumers were intended to consume zinc rice every day.

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 Details of all aggregation day campaign are as follows:

Variety
Total
Sl Name of amount of
Date Aggregation Campaign Place BRRI BRRI
no. Aggregator aggregation
dhan74 dhan84
(MT)

1 06-May-21 Ulpur Bazar, Ulpur, Gopalganj Sadar, Gopalganj Ratan Chowdhury 10 10 0

Boiltoli Bazar, Boiltoli, Gopalganj Sadar,
2 08-May-21 Ratan Chowdhury 10.4 10.4 0
Gopalganj
Korpara Bazar, Korpara, Gopalganj Sadar,
3 09-May-21 Ratan Chowdhury 10.4 10.4 0
Gopalganj
4 12-May-21 Keyaniya, Boiltoli, Gopalganj Sadar, Gopalganj Ratan Chowdhury 29 29 0
5 13-May-21 Gandhisur, Boiltoli, Gopalganj Sadar, Gopalganj Ratan Chowdhury 19.2 19.2 0
Vati Kanaipur Bazar, Kanipur, Faridpur sadar,
6 25-May-21 Shukur Ali Sheikh 6 4 2
Faridpur
Kanaipur Bazar, Kanipur, Faridpur sadar,
7 08-Jun-21 Md. Babul Sheikh 7 7 0
Faridpur
Total: 92 90 2

2.2 Linking grain value chain actors’ technology transfer

SDC organized Linking grain value chain actors` meeting on 03 June 2021 at Conference
Room, DAE office, Faridpur Sadar,
Faridpur. Total participants in the
events were 45 in which

Aggregator was 19, rice miller was 02,

PoP owner was 03, GO officials were
04 and lead farmers were 07. Through
the workshop all the grain value chain
actors were well known about benefits
of zinc rice and their roles in this
activity. To encourage them in this activity, facilitators and presenters of the workshop were
able to make realized their financial and non-financial benefits in this activity and all of them
responded positively.

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Objectives: Objectives of the event are-
➢ To create awareness among the participants on importance of zinc nutrition in human
health
➢ To inform participants about the grain production area.
➢ To introduce producers, aggregators & millers
➢ To facilitate in developing/ strengthening a new commercial channel for zinc rice
production, collection, milling and selling to consumers.
➢ To link selected grain value chain actors in the targeted production area which will
ensure grain availability for milling
➢ Influence to engage grain value chain actors for commercialization of biofortified zinc
rice.
➢ To make realization their individual’s` responsibilities

Presenters: In this workshop presenters were-

▪ Md. Ruhul Quddus, Project Officer, HarvestPlus Bangladesh
▪ Jahid Hussain, Divisional Coordinator, HarvestPlus Bangladesh
Key points discussed: Discussion subject of the retailer workshop were-
Objectives of the workshop
Briefing on HarvestPlus and SDC
Briefing on objectives of the project
Benefit of zinc and Importance of zinc rice
Characteristics of bio-fortified zinc rice
Involvement & role of GVCAs in commercialization of bio-fortified zinc rice
Scope and challenges in commercialization of bio-fortified zinc rice
Question and answer of all GVCAs

Speech Providers: Officials of different GO/NGO provided their valuable speech in this
program for encouraging the value chain actors of the project which are given below:

1. Dr. Md. Hazrat Ali, DD, DAE, Faridpur

2. Md. Sahadat Hossain, DMO, DAM
3. Kazi Saifuddin, DC (Food), DFC
4. Abu Hanifa, PC, CBC
5. Kazi Ashraful Hassan, ED, SDC
Moreover, some GVCAs provided their speech and asked us questions. We tried to answer
their question and they were convinced to perform all their responsibilities in the project
properly.

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Quotations: All the speech providers tried to convince the GVCAs to perform their duties to
make profitable this activity for all of them. Dr. Md. Hazrat Ali (DD, DAE, Faridpur) said,
“...Now we have been self-contained in food. Now it's time to consume quality, that means,
nutritious food to protect us from different diseases and keep well physically. Zinc is an
important micronutrient which can protect us from different diseases. So, it is needed to
cultivate zinc enriched varieties everywhere in the country. It is not possible without your
support. Because you are the main actors of the activity. Sustainability of the noble work is
depending on your performance and willingness.”

Md. Sahadat Hossain, DMO, DAM said, “To protect ourselves from COVID-19 or any
diseases we should boost our immunity, zinc can do it. Consuming zinc rice is the easiest way
to reduce zinc deficiency in our body and boost our immunity, too. So, please convey this
message to farmers and motivate them to cultivate zinc enriched varieties of rice”.

Kazi Saifuddin, DC (Food), DFC said, “Rice is our staple food. So, scientists have created
zinc rice through bio-fortification so that we can get daily required zinc through eating rice.
…To build a strong and brilliant nation, there is no alternative to consume zinc enriched
rice.”

Decisions and output: Following decisions were taken at the workshop:

Farmers will sell zinc rice to aggregators
Aggregators will purchase zinc rice from farmers and sell it to rice millers
keeping separately.
Millers will purchase zinc rice from aggregators and will process it branding
as ZINC RICE mention the variety
PoP owners will purchase the rice from millers and will sell it to consumers.

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 2.3. Rice aggregation and segregation
SDC took initiatives to aggregate zinc rice from farmers through their local aggregators. SDC
has linked the aggregators to the
farmers. Moreover, SDC has
linked the aggregators to the rice
processing millers. As a result,
04 aggregators of Faridpur and
Gopalganj district aggregated
474.83 zinc rice (BRRI dhan74
452.13 MT & BRRI dhan84 22.7
MT). They segregated all the rice
and sold to 05 millers and 01
seed processing company
separately. In month of
December 2020, SDC arranged
peer to peer meeting among the
grain value chain actors under CBC project of HarvestPlus, funded by GAIN. These activities
helped a lot to aggregate and segregate a large quantity of paddy from farmers and to
convince the rice millers to process it.
Details of zinc rice aggregation are as follows:
Address Total Variety
Sl. Name of amount of
BRRI BRRI Name of the mill Address of Mill
No. Aggregator of Aggregator aggregation
dhan74 dhan84
(MT)
M/S Chhondu Cholishiya, Nawpara,
Ulpur Bazar, Boiltoli,
Ratan Rice Mill Avaynagar, Jeshore
1 Gopalganj Sadar, 385.7 367.5 18.2
Chowdhury Vai Vai Traders
Gopalganj Monakhali Bazar, Meherpur
(Seed processor)
Vati Kanaipur,
Shukur Ali M/S Lal Auto Kanaipur, Faridpur sadar,
2 Kanaipur, Faridpur 44.73 42.63 2.1
Sheikh Rice Mill Faridpur
Sadar, Faridpur
Ramdia Bazar,
Md. Sayeed Bikash Agro
3 Mahmumudpur, 35 0 Sutashi, Boalmari, Faridpur
Mollah 35 Food Ltd.
Kashiyani, Gopalganj
Kanaipur Bazar, Rohan Auto Rice
Md. Babul
4 Kanaipur, Faridpur 9.4 7 2.4 Mill Eshwardi, Pabna
Sheikh
Sadar, Faridpur Ranjan Rice Mill Bagat, Modhukhali, Faridpur
Total: 474.83 452.13 22.7

3.Major Challenges
To implement this project the major challenges were:

❖ Due to COVID-19, it was a challenge to organize programs maintaining the social

distance and using safety equipment.

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 ❖ GVCAs are very busy. So, it was a challenge to make sure their presence in the
RGVCA meeting.
❖ No dedicated stuff for CBC projects, we had to hire stuffs from another program

4.Sustainability

To sustain the project, it is needed to initiate the following activities:

❖ Need to include millers to Govt. free rice distribution activities (VGF), big rice
processing companies etc. for ensuring millers production. Then they will be more
motivated to purchase paddy and process.
❖ Need to financial support for millers so that they are encouraged to process and
package zinc rice branding as ZINC RICE mentioning the variety name.

5. Lessons Learned
Major lessons learnt from the project are given below:

❖ Member of the producer group will be big farmer. Then a large volume aggregation
will be easier.

❖ It is needed to have a large number of zinc rice producing farmers` portfolio.

6. Recommendations
HPB should continue to provide such incentives or facilities for value chain actors so that
during this pandemic, they are motivated to work with us in spite of arranging any face to
face meeting.

7. Conclusion
We think zinc rice production as well as consumption will increase in future. A relationship
has been established among all aggregators and millers through meeting. So, we think a huge
quantity of grain will be aggregated in this season and most of the aggregated grain will
appear at market for consumers branding as “ZINC RICE”. Moreover, through our different
events, a huge quantity of people in our working area has been aware about the importance of
zinc for the human body. So, demand for consuming zinc enriched rice has been created in
large numbers of people and some of them are waiting for zinc rice in the market. We think
most of the people in the working area will consume zinc rice.

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8. Annexure

Annexure-1: Aggregation Day Campaign

Date Month Division District Upazila Male Female Total

6-May-21 May Dhaka Gopalganj Gopalganj 12 0 12
8-May-21 May Dhaka Gopalganj Gopalganj 12 0 12
9-May-21 May Dhaka Gopalganj Gopalganj 9 0 9
12-May-21 May Dhaka Gopalganj Gopalganj 12 0 12
13-May-21 May Dhaka Gopalganj Gopalganj 10 0 10
25-May-21 May Dhaka Faridpur Faridpur Sadar 9 0 9
8-Jun-21 June Dhaka Faridpur Faridpur Sadar 13 0 13
Total 77 0 77

Annexure-2: Rice Grain Value Chain Actors Meeting

Date Month Division District Upazila Male Female Total
3-Jun-21 June Dhaka Faridpur Faridpur Sadar 45 0 45

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9.Publications and Communications

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Link:
https://web.facebook.com/internationaltelevision/posts/1609691856087419?_rdc=
1&_rdr

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Link:
https://web.facebook.com/messenger_media?thread_id=100005011935596&attach
ment_id=528722494804338&message_id=mid.%24cAAAAABQwQ9iAAt_7hV5
0ZqoGmTbM

Kazi Ashraful Hassan

Executive Director
Society Development Committee (SDC)

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