ICT in Agriculture and Disaster Management - Bangladesh ...

was steady. Internet services are mostly available in metro city areas and at best the district
head quarters. Only three connections were available per 1000 population in 2008, but in the
base year, it was almost nil. As a consequence of this Public and Private sectors are
developing service oriented application of ICT in agricultural development and technology
dissemination.
Current status of ICT in Bangladesh in respect of infrastructure and applications has made
significant progress during the last two decades. Review of various National policies and
other relevant documents showed that importance of ICT in agricultural research and
development has been recognized. Further, disaster management is the topmost priority of
the Government. In performing the task, recommendations of the four regional workshops
and the national workshop organized in this connection eleven other sub-sectoral report
concerning ICT and disaster management were consulted. Government’s policy towards
development of infrastructure and enabling condition is highly positive.
As ICT can play a significant role in research and development of agriculture and disaster
management, the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council appropriately has chosen the
area as one of the sub-sectors for detailed study. This report is the outcome of the effort
made by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council to conduct a sectoral study in
connection with the preparation of ‘Vision Document-2030 and beyond’. The main focus of
this study is to elaborate how ICT can be applied in agriculture sector and its research and
development, technology dissemination, and disaster management. The methodology
followed in preparing this report is a bit different from that followed in case of commodity
based sub-sectors. However, the prescribed ToR and Group Work Guidelines were followed
wherever applicable or possible.
Several National policies and other relevant documents were reviewed. Besides, many other
secondary information were colleted from consultancy reports, internet resources and were
reviewed. The most of the policies formulated after 2002 have stressed need for using ICT.
Four Regional (Rajshahi, Chittagong, Barisal and Dhaka) Stakeholders Consultation
Workshops on Agricultural Research Priority Setting were held during December 2009 to
February 2010. The number of participants varied from 100-170, but the proportionate mix
was more or less the same. In all the Regional Workshops participants were drawn
from/among Extension personnel from DAE, DOF and DLS (55%); Researchers from NARS
and Universities (25%), NGOs, POs (included private entrepreneurs, fertilizer dealers, etc),
Others included participants from BADC, BWDB, KGF, etc. (10%); Above all, to get the first
hand inputs from the fields farmers (10%) participation was ensured. Breakout Groups
varied with the context of the regional importance.
Based on the information provided by and gathered from different agencies on researchable
problems at various levels were analyzed for setting the priorities in the field of ICT in
agriculture and disaster management. The following sources were considered:
i. Research priorities of different ARIs
ii. Outcomes of discussions with researchers form ARIs and Universities
iii. Response from all extension agencies (DAE, DOF, DLS), who were requested to
provide information on field problems
iv. Researchable problems extracted from Upazila Micro Extension Plan
v. Researchable issues on sub-sectoral commodities received from Hortex and
vi. Outcomes of four regional workshops which provided valuable inputs on
regional issues
x