Successful introduction of a new crop may require support from both private sector and government. Through the project, PRAN has introduced cassava in Bangladesh at commercial scale. Its first approaches to farmers were in 2014. PRAN has accessed support from multilateral development banks and nongovernment organizations to develop the crop but interaction with the government appears to have been limited. The evaluation recognizes that government agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Extension have little knowledge to share, as the level of cassava growing is at such a small scale that the BBS does not report on the crop in its annual agricultural sector reports. In practice, PRAN’s selected crop of cassava has required more fertilizer than expected, and fewer farmers were willing to join the program than planned, leading PRAN to undertake some cassava growing on its own. Stronger links between PRAN and the government may have helped to increase the crop testing and the number of farmers participating in the program.
Sylvan Agriculture Limited PRAN Agribusiness Project