Ever since he was about 16 years old, Ziaur Rahman has been working his family’s farm in the Rangpur district of northern Bangladesh, growing rice, potatoes and other vegetables. But Ziaur, now 34, is feeling increasingly squeezed by today’s harsh economic realities. Even with his wife Sahanaz, and his brother and sister working on the farm, as well as three day-labourers, providing for their family of eight isn’t becoming any easier.
“Our biggest challenge is that prices for things like fertilizer, pesticides and seeds are high and rising rapidly, as well as the maize for cattle feed, but the money we get for our crops and vegetables in the local market isn’t going up,” Ziaur says.
It is a story that is all too familiar for farmers across the planet, yet some help is at hand from digital technology. Under its flagship global 1 000 Digital Villages initiative, FAO is working with the government and farmers’ organizations in Bangladesh, including the national network, the Sara Bangla Krishak Society (SBKS), to facilitate access to digital platforms. These enable farmers to reach a wider market and improve their incomes by getting better prices for their crops.
A key aim of the initiative is to narrow the ‘rural-urban digital divide’. Nearly 60 digital villages are now up and running in Bangladesh, in three districts including Rangpur where Ziaur lives.