PARTNER project gains popularity among peasants

Bangladesh’s agriculture sector is moving towards becoming more modern, commercial and technology-driven, with the Ministry of Agriculture’s PARTNER Project reporting significant progress since its launch in July 2023. 

By June this year, the project had achieved approximately 47 percent progress against its results-based targets. The initiative is focused on bringing farmers under digital services, promoting good agricultural practices, ensuring food safety, strengthening agricultural research, expanding agricultural exports and introducing climate-resilient technologies. 

The five-year project, scheduled to run from July 2023 to June 2028, has a total estimated cost of around Tk 6,911 crore. It is jointly financed by the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Bangladesh. Seven government agencies, including the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), are implementing the programme across 64 districts and 495 upazilas within the country’s 14 agricultural regions.

Under the project, 28,597 farmer field schools are planned, with activities currently underway in nearly 18,500. Of the targeted 20,000 training batches on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for farmers, around 4,500 have been completed. Meanwhile, 27 out of 30 planned training batches for agricultural extension officers have been concluded, while 31 of the planned 112 national and regional workshops have been held.
 
One of the project’s flagship initiatives is the introduction of the Farmer Card, aimed at integrating farmers into a comprehensive digital agricultural service system. The project plans to bring one million farmers under the scheme in August and a total of 4.7 million by the end of this year. A pilot database containing information on approximately 1.4 million farmers has already been prepared.

Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture believe the Farmer Card will play a key role in ensuring the efficient delivery of subsidies, agricultural loans, incentives and other government services. Plans are also underway to provide farmers with international debit cards through Sonali Bank, Janata Bank and Bangladesh Krishi Bank.

Coordinator Abul Kalam Azad of PARTNER Project said the project’s performance should not be assessed solely on the basis of expenditure. “The project follows a results-based financing mechanism. Progress is measured against the achievement of targets agreed with the World Bank and IFAD,” he said.

According to Azad, the World Bank and IFAD have committed loans worth $543 million for the project. Against cumulative results achieved by June 2026, claims have been submitted for the disbursement of $252.71 million�"equivalent to nearly 47 percent of the total financing.

The project has identified 24 results-based targets under 10 disbursement-linked indicators. Achievement documents are submitted for independent verification, after which development partners release funds at predetermined rates.

However, several targets require amendments to the project’s Development Project Proposal (DPP). These include providing digital agricultural services to five million farmers through the Farmer Card, bringing around one million farmers and farms covering 300,000 hectares under GAP certification, establishing accredited laboratories and ensuring an annual 10 percent increase in the budgets of registered institutions.

A joint World Bank and IFAD mid-term review mission, held from June 1 to 23, reviewed these issues and agreed on the need to amend the DPP and revise certain targets.

Azad said infrastructure development and other physical works that fall outside the existing disbursement-linked targets cannot proceed without the necessary DPP amendments. The Project Implementation Committee has already recommended the required revisions, and the amendment process is currently underway.

He expressed optimism that once the DPP revision is completed, the remaining activities of the PARTNER Project can be implemented within the stipulated timeframe, helping accelerate Bangladesh’s transition towards a modern, sustainable and technology-driven agricultural sector.