Effective and Inclusive Agricultural Extension Services in Coastal Bangladesh: Possible pathways

Abstract

This study was carried out by the IWMI with funding by CGIAR as part of the Asian Mega-Deltas initiative and in collaboration with researchers from the Bangladesh Agricultural University. Bangladesh, a densely populated country with limited arable land, faces significant challenges in ensuring food and nutritional security. The agriculture sector is crucial, employing 40.6% of the workforce and contributing substantially to the national economy, as well as to the food security and self-sufficiency of millions of smallholder farmers. Smallholders make up approximately 92% of the farming community. Extension services – enabling farmers' access to information and technology are a key part of this landscape. While public extension agents are still primary sources for inputs like seeds, fertilizers, irrigation pumps, and machinery to farming communities at free or subsidized rates (BARC 2023), public and private sectors, including input traders and marketing agents, increasingly serve as crucial intermediaries. New developments in extension services are, however, not equally accessible to all. The adoption of new technology and new agricultural practices is said to be lower among smallholders. Moreover, women, who play a key role in agriculture, tend to be further excluded from access to and availability of new technological innovations and extension services. Our focus in this study was to further understand the agriculture extension gaps, particularly for resource-poor smallholders (least control over land and natural resources) and women.