All agricultural support at one center

The development of the "Better Life Farming" model named is currently underway to support farmers with fertilizer, seeds, insecticide, agriculture-related services, and loans - all from one platform.

With the model, Bayer Global, a German agro-based healthcare and healthcare company, is working to build a value chain from global agricultural production to marketing. The work of creating such value chains has started in Bangladesh.

According to Bayer, the company has entered into an agreement with ACI Bangladesh as a local partner to roll-out the model in the country.

According to Bayer sources, in following this model, 56 centers will be created across the country during the first phase. These will be operated under the name "Better Life Farming Center". 

Farmers will be able to source various facilities such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural technology and agricultural inputs, crop-soil solutions from each center.

A shop in Jashore, Messrs. Matia Traders, has been developed as the inaugural model "Better Life Farming" center, though it has not yet launched.

The centers will be connected with super-shops and wholesalers so that crops produced by farmers can be sold in the market at fair prices.

The company also has plans to enter into an agreement with banks so that the farmers engaged in the center can take loans as needed.

Business Director of ACI Fertilizer, agriculturist Bashir Ahmed, told the Business Standard, "A group of farmers will be formed under each center to enable them to source all kinds of agricultural materials and services from that center. There will be extensive liaison with super-shops and wholesalers for the sale of their manufactured products."

The model intends to create one center for every five villages. 60 farmers from each village will be enlisted to their Better Life Farming center. Therefore, one center will cater to the needs of 300 farmers.

According to this plan, 16,800 farmers will be supported from 56 centers during the first phase of the model, which will subsequently be replicated across the country. 

The farmers will receive products and services from the centers at market price.

Bayer signed a contract with ACI as a local partner on November 24. According to the agreement, ACI will supply all kinds of agricultural products to the centers.

"We are engaging small farmers in Bangladesh with Better Life Farming to create sustainable income generation from their farms" said Jahidul Islam, managing director of Bayer Crop Science Limited, Bangladesh, at the signing ceremony.

Bayer has also started to work on the model in Indonesia. The project is expected to connect two lakh farmers in China's Hubei province by 2021. 

According to Bayer, Better Life Farming is currently impacting the livelihoods of more than one and a half crore farmers in 17 countries of the world.