ICRAF is expanding its network of partnerships in Bangladesh, a country of more than 150 million where nearly half the labour force is engaged in agriculture. 

Dr. Javed Rizvi, ICRAF’s Regional Coordinator for South Asia, visited Bangladesh at the end of May, checking in at ICRAF's country liason office, which was established in 2014. 

“We are in the process of signing a hosting arrangement with the Bangladeshi government, and will be initiating a new project to work with the government on the development of National Agroforestry Policy of Bangladesh using our experience in successfully facilitating the development of the Indian national agroforestry policy,” explains Dr. Rizvi. The Indian policy is now being implemented by India’s Ministry of Agriculture, and ICRAF sits on its high level inter-ministerial committee, which comprises three Federal Ministries (Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development).

ICRAF is also developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC), which sits within the Ministry of Agriculture of the Bangladeshi government. The MoU, which is under review by Ministry of Agriculture, will give the organization a legal status that will facilitate the approval of long-term visas and exemption from income tax. The MoU will also support ICRAF’s fundraising efforts in the country. 

During his visit, Rizvi also met with representatives of the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and fellow CG centres CIMMYT and CIP, as well as the Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agriculture University (BSMRAU), which is hosting ICRAF’s Bangladesh office. 

“We initiated a dialogue with Dr. Jiban Krishna Biswas, Director General of BRRI, and convinced him to join us in submitting a funding proposal on promoting a rice-based agroforestry system in Bangladesh,” Rizvi reports, adding that Dr. Biswas “is very excited about our pitch on how fruit trees can help farmers and the government to move towards attaining the goal of food as well as nutritional security.”