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The Brac (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) has achieved considerable success in getting international recognition for the vegetables grown by farmers in Bangladesh. The EUROGAP certificate, given by FoodCert B.V. of Netherlands, certifies that Bangladeshi fresh vegetables are safe, good in quality and can therefore be imported by the European countries. And this honour has been achieved by the farmers exporting vegetables with the help of the Brac. This recognition is a significant step toward giving worldwide goodwill, increasing prospect of high volume of export of fresh vegetables from Bangladesh to the world over.
The FE spoke to Mr. Mallik A-As Saqui, General Manager, and Agricultural Marketing to know about the valuable project being run by the Brac. Excerpts:
FE: The vegetables export project has achieved some success. Please brief us about the programme and its objective and result so far.
Saki: The Brac started the agriculture project in 1998 with the Hortex foundation. We train the farmers in farming technique and teach them how to become good farmers and achieve optimum potential in producing, preserving and selling their product. In short we help them operate in a system that is naturally fare, so the supply chain consisting of acquisition of seed, production and marketing - does not have the presence of any exploitation, meaning there is no middleman or commission agent involved. We train the farmers with buy back guarantee - meaning we guarantee them that their produce would get buyers. In this case Brac itself buys their product. We then export those produce to foreign countries. The programme started by exporting French beans to Europe in small quantity. Brac now exports 600 tons of fresh vegetables including green chilli, bitter gourd, long beans (Borboti). We have about 1000 farmers working for us and 150 graders and packers. Brac has brought three refrigerated trucks and two other all-purpose trucks. We have a cold storage in Chandina and another at Tongi. We also have activities in Shivpur and Dinajpur. Besides fresh organic vegetables, we have started exporting potato as the government has attached importance to potato export. In the first year in 1999, we exported 26 tons. The volume of export is now much higher. We now export 1000-1500 tons of potato every year.
The Brac launched this programme with the intention of empowering the farmers to become self -reliant, work in a corruption free environment and then learn to earn their keep and dream big. We offer all assistance and give them freedom to work as they please under our supervision. Only one thing is kept under Brac's control, that is the use of pesticide so that the farmer's do not get duped or apply wrong pesticide that may cause their produce to become contaminated. The farmers know that their vegetables reach so many countries and earn valuable fresh currency for the country. This is a source of great pride for them as well as for us.
Vegetables produced by our farmers is now available in super market chains like Sainsbury of England and Carrefour of France and other supermarkets in Europe. This is an amazing achievement of the farmers of this country. Please understand that the sky is the limit if the concerned authorities look at the vegetables export with seriousness and we can ensure that the overall process from start to finish is made problem free. We can increase production and quality of vegetables and other agricultural products and export the same to more than 50 countries in different continents.
The EUROGAP certificate, given by FoodCert B.V. of Netherlands, is the window of quality assurance that opens-up the room for Bangladesh to export of vegetables to all over the world. Brac is proud that its vegetables export programme has given the farmers such a certification, which testifies to the degree of the ability and efficiency of local farmers in grading, packing and exporting good quality vegetables.
FE: What is the main impediment toward exporting vegetables?
Saki: The main obstacle to vegetables export is the lack of cargo space in airlines. We thank Biman Bangladesh Airlines for being there for us, but that is only one airlines. The foreign airlines do not carry perishable goods and that means we can get space in only Biman. There are occasions when foreign airlines do carry some export, but that is very rare. We hope that the airlines could be convinced to make available more space for us.
This is only going to be good business for airlines because we could give them cargo round the year. We shall give them forward planning, with an advanced schedule of business that would ensure cargo for them round the year. The air cargo industry should take this opportunity for doing business and respond positively. Perhaps, Biman Bangladesh could buy a separate cargo plane or two to service the cargo potential of certain sectors. We are confident that Biman will be able to run a cargo fleet. We could give them business and there are other sectors that suffer from lack of space.
Vegetables export is a noble sector with the land being tilled by hardworking farmers and besides that the potential for real growth and earning large amount of foreign currency is very genuine. If cargo space is made available, then the prospect for increasing export volume is immense. Cargo space and other advantages would convince more influential entrepreneurs to come into this sector and take advantage of business potential. The vegetables export goldmine is undermined by a lack of cargo space.
FE: This is a programme to help the farmers and that is noble. But is it not that the farmers are becoming dependant on Brac's assistance and know that they will get a buyer come what may. Are they not better off becoming good businessmen by exporting directly?
Saki: They can export directly if they wish to. Our programme is there to train the farmers and give them the skill that makes them stronger as farmers and also stronger in managing their own affairs. These farmers are naturally smart and they may not have tertiary education but the knowledge of the farming process and the knack to survive and prosper with the hard life style of a farmer gives them a unique strength. The Brac will have no objection if the farmers can get credit and then reach higher independence by exporting their product and doing it in a proper businesslike manner. It would only be a vindication of our own effort to help the farmers.
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