Bangladesh’s Ministry of Agriculture says its PARTNER project has made about 47 percent overall progress by June this year toward modernising, commercialising and making agriculture technology-driven. The programme began in July 2023 and operates across 64 districts and 495 upazilas in 14 agricultural regions. It seeks to expand digital services for farmers, good agricultural practices, safe food, research, agricultural exports and climate-resilient technologies.

The project, costing about Tk 69.11 billion, is financed by the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Bangladesh government, with seven government agencies involved. Of a target 28,597 field schools, activities are underway at about 18,500. About 4,500 of 20,000 farmer-training batches on good agricultural practices have been completed, alongside 27 of 30 training batches for extension officers.

A major initiative is the farmer card, with plans to cover one million farmers in August and 4.7 million within the year. A pilot database for about 1.4 million farmers has been prepared. Officials say the cards could help deliver subsidies, loans, incentives and other public services, while plans include international debit cards through three state-linked banks. DPP revisions and some target resets are under discussion.