Progressing with ICTs in agriculture for sustainable development in Bangladesh
Creators: name: Das, Susmita
Publisher: name: F1000Research
Year: 2016

description: The important challenge remains with Bangladesh is to feed the burgeoning population of Bangladesh without deteriorating the natural resources including arable lands by 2050. When we look at the solutions and opportunities, the use of modern technologies through efficient utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture comes first, by which users can collect the data and information for meaningful analysis thereby producing new knowledge in agriculture. The new knowledge offers a unique opportunity to bring the production enhancing technologies to the farmers and empower themselves with modern agricultural technology and act accordingly for increasing the agricultural production in a cost effective and profitable manner. Worldwide, some studies were published on the role of application of ICTs in agricultural production. In a study carried out to know the impact of ICT based service delivery system on agricultural production in Bangladesh, especially in the cereals using a randomized survey using questionnaires and interviews. The study found, that with the application and use of ICTs, agricultural production accelerated to some extent. The Bangladesh National ICT Policies of 2009 and also 2015 identified agriculture for ICT-enabled services for increasing agriculture productivity, establishing market linkages and agriculture information centers etc. Similarly, the National Agricultural Extension Policy 2015 also identified ICTs as enabling technologies for the agriculture for development. With the favorable policy environment, it can be said that Bangladesh is well suited to start effectively using ICT in agriculture that is “e-agriculture”. Responding to this, Agriculture Information and Communication Center (AICC) led by AIS of Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) would help to get entire agricultural information services in one stop portal for agriculture research communication, production, marketing, inputs, finance etc. For further strengthening extension services, MoA may establish a separate wing of ICT in agriculture and bring all public and private initiatives under one central repository of advisory services for better coordination and authentication. The ICT-enabled connected society by 2021 is the vision of Digital Bangladesh. The remote sensing technique which are being employed in various industries in several countries across the globe are now being used in Bangladesh too under the project ‘Spurring a Transformation for Agriculture through Remote Sensing (STARS) in Barisal and Patuakhali to monitor farmlands in collaboration with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT). The radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) having high-end digital and thermal cameras attached would take high resolution photos of the soil and crops for assessing the condition of crops on a large scale for issues like crop growth and development, nutrient deficiency and water regime, disease incidence and insect pest attack. The analyzed and quantified data from the UAV images helps in understanding and generation of advisory services to farmers on quantity and time of irrigation, pest management and fertilizer application. Thus, it is envisaged that with the public and private sector ICTs initiatives would help the country in achieving the sustainable development goals in Bangladesh related to agriculture – No poverty, Zero hunger and Good health and well-being.