Climate Smart Agriculture for Bangladesh

This week, our colleage Koos Groen is in Bangladesh to support the training on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA).  CSA in Bangladesh is a young research field and a lot is to be learned on how CSA in Bangladesh can contribute to a more resilient agricultural sector. In this project the two universities (WUR and PSTU) join forces with the private sector where Acacia Water, a leading consultancy firm on hydrogeological projects and managed aquifer recharge, provides knowledge and experience on the technical input for the teaching strategy.

The main objective of the project is to establish a new centre of excellence in post graduate research for CSA in coastal Bangladesh. The project will develop a clear post-graduate research and teaching strategy for the centre along the three key pillars of CSA: 1) resilience to climate variability and change, 2) reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and 3) increased productivity and profitability of agricultural systems.

The project will train key staff, to advance research capacity in CSA and improve the link between university education and the private sector. The envisaged research strategy and pilot research will focus on helping vulnerable groups, improving gender equality and developing interdisciplinary research skills. The teaching strategy will particularly focus on preparing students for the future labour market and involving the youth of Bangladesh in developing an agricultural sector in Bangladesh.  Finally, the project will develop a range of demonstration, training and strategic agricultural innovation activities to disseminate CSA knowledge and technologies to coastal communities.

The project is funded by Nuffic (the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education) and the consortium is led by Wageningen University (WUR) and further consisting of partner Stichting Wageningen Research, Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR) the Netherlands and Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU) Bangladesh, Acacia Water, Saline Farming and CIMMYT.