USAID's Response: Food Security

Bangladesh has been selected as one of the priority countries under the U.S. Government’s recently launched Feed the Future Initiative. Under this initiative, the goal of USAID is to increase production of more affordable and nutritious staple foods in Bangladesh through: Increased on-farm productivity, increased investment in market systems, enhanced food security policy and planning capacity, and enhanced agriculture innovation capacity. USAID will work closely with the Government of Bangladesh, other donors and private sector investors to achieve these objectives. In addition, USAID will consolidate and expand the impact and influence of USAID’s ongoing agricultural program and launch new projects. The ongoing USAID projects are:

National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Program II (NFPCSP II):

The NFPCSP project focuses on improving food security policy framework and policy implementation in Bangladesh through enhancing the capacity and coordination of government agencies. It also focuses on improved research and civil society dialogue on food security issues.

Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project Phase II (ABSP II):

The ABSP II project supports the development of transgenic crop varieties and research capacity building efforts. It focuses on the importation, greenhouse and field-testing of two transgenic crops (eggplant and potato), and the delivery of transgenic seeds to farmers. The project has resulted in transgenic varieties that have improved crops’ resistance to pests and diseases. 

Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA):

The activities under the CSISA project include provision for appropriate agricultural technology transfer; adaptive research trials for production enhancement of cereals, fish, legumes, and vegetables; socio-economic and farming system analysis; partnership, capacity building and training; and information dissemination. The project works with researchers, extension agents, producer associations, local government leaders and agro-entrepreneurs. 

Policy Research and Strategy Support Program (PRSSP):

The recently launched PRSSP project will conduct policy analyses on food security and agricultural issues in Bangladesh with the goals of enhancing the efficiency of food production and marketing, accelerating income growth in the rural and urban poor, improving nutrition for vulnerable groups, and strengthening the capacity of key Bangladeshi institutions to perform future food policy analysis.

Accelerating Agriculture Productivity Improvement (AAPI):

The AAPI project promotes fertilizer deep placement (FDP) technology to improve efficiency of fertilizer utilization, yields, and productivity, while decreasing the negative environmental impacts caused by the over-use of fertilizers. The project also works to increase farmers’ access to high-quality FDP products at a reasonable price and assists private sector micro-enterprises in the rural areas which produce FDP items.