For a long time, emphasis in agriculture has been on rice production, which resulted in an increased dependence on imported foodstuffs (particularly fruit remains unaffordable to many poor consumers). The Government of Bangladesh is therefore promoting diversification in agriculture by weaning farmers away from their reliance on low-value staple food grains towards the production of higher-value commodities. Direct beneficiaries will be around 240,000 farm households, of which 175,000 will require credits for high-value crop (HVC) production and on-farm infrastructure investments.

The project’s main intervention areas are:

• Agricultural marketing and trade (reducing marketing costs of agricultural products and strengthening value chain integration;
• Agricultural diversification into high-value crops and a focus on women’s involvement;
• Support to farmers through agricultural extension services and to providers of agricultural extension services;
• Increasing formal credit to agricultural, especially small, medium and marginal farmers;
• Market infrastructure development.