Bd Agri Policy

Marketing Communications (CMN 310) Term Paper Musfiqur Rahman 0630231

Allocation of content

Introducing Statements Page 1-7 Analysis Page 7-8 Out come Page 9 Recommendation Page 9-12 Conclusion Page 12

I would like to work on the project named, Agricultural market information improvement TCP/BGD/0065. The objective of this project lacks communication development. Being a student of communication science, I want to take a look on this project. I have done some literature review of the government's agriculture & extension policy, which Ensures to achieve some results, through these type of projects, which are not possible with out the proper integration of communication or, a SMART communication mix. The project that I am talking about has, put mass communications such as Radio & TV Communication on their project out puts. But they do not have any communication wing! The project web page (http://www.dam.gov.bd/jsp/index.jsp) has a cool out look but an uneven welcome in interactivity. With this welcome at the beginning of the term paper I became curious of the real fact, “How Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is using IMC? Why agriculture ministry is unable to achieve the blessings of IMC?”

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To discuss about the government’s integrated steps to develop agriculture system of Bangladesh we need to know the Agriculture ministry’s formation a little bit.

Ministry of Agriculture, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh

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Some documents: Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) according to Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP, is following the following policy in order to promote agriculture: Objectives of the National Agriculture Policy :

The overall objective of the National Agriculture Policy is to make the nation selfsufficient in food through increasing production of all crops including cereals and ensure a dependable food security system for all. The specific objectives of the National Agriculture Policy are to: • • • • • • •

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ensure a profitable and sustainable agricultural production system and raise the purchasing power by increasing real income of the farmers; preserve and develop land productivity; reduce excessive dependence on any single crop to minimize the risk; increase production and supplies of more nutritious food crops and thereby ensuring food security and improving nutritional status; preserve existing bio-diversity of different crops; take up programs for the introduction, utilization and extension of biotechnology; take necessary steps to ensure environmental protection as well as ‘environment-friendly sustainable agriculture’ through increased use of organic manure and strengthening of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs; take appropriate steps to develop an efficient irrigation system and encourage farmers in providing supplementary irrigation during drought with a view to increasing cropping intensity and yield; establish agriculture as a diversified and sustainable income generating sector through strengthening of ‘Farming System’ based agricultural production and agro-forestry programs; take effective steps to ensure input supplies to the farmers at fair prices in a competitive market and remove difficulties at the farmers’ level which have arisen out of the privatization of input distribution system; develop marketing system to ensure fair prices of agricultural commodities; introduce an appropriate institutional system of providing credit to ensure the availability of agricultural credit in time; produce and supply of agricultural commodities as required by the industrial sector; Reduce imports of agricultural commodities and find out newer opportunities for increasing exports as well; create opportunities for establishing agro-processing and agro-based industries; protect interests of the small, marginal and tenant farmers; Update the agricultural system in the light of the Agreement on Agriculture under WTO, SAFTA and other international treaties by protecting the national interests; and develop contingency management system to combat natural disasters. 3

Crop Production Policy : Although the intensification of food grain production, especially rice-based production system is apparently profitable from the farmers’ point of view, this approach has appeared to be harmful in protecting the land productivity. At present, rice covers about 75 percent of the cultivated land in Bangladesh. Area coverage by other crops are as follows: pulses (4.64%), wheat (3.92%), oilseeds (3.77%), jute (3.71%), sugarcane (1.23%), potato (1.11%), fruits (0.84%) and vegetables (1.39%). The production system dominated by a single crop (i.e. rice) is neither scientific nor acceptable from the economic point of view. It is, therefore, necessary to increase the cultivation and production of other crops. However, considering the increasing demand for food grains and with a view to ensuring food security, production of rice will continue to get priority in the food grain production programs. In order to increase rice production, supportive programs will be taken to raise per hectare yield through the use of modern technology and improved cultural practices along with the increased use of HYV seeds. In Bangladesh, only 4.14 percent of net cultivable land remains as current fallow which means that there is hardly any scope for increasing cultivable land. Currently, cropping intensity is around 185 percent. Thus, the only possible option for increasing agricultural production is to increase both the cropping intensity and yields simultaneously. In this respect, policies adopted by the government are to: • •

Take supportive programs for inter-cropping in a field instead of single cropping; and; take appropriate measures in reducing the gap between potential yield and farmers’ realized yield of different crops to raise the present level of production significantly.

Crop diversification is one of the major component of crop production policy. For the overall development of crop sector, special emphasis will be given to crop diversification program under the crop production policy. The government policies in this respect are as follows: •

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Area under wheat has meanwhile reached at 0.8 million hectare. Given the potential for expanding wheat acreage, efforts will continue to encourage farmers to grow more wheat. The production of maize has shown prospective results in last two years. Maize has also gained popularity as human food side by side with the poultry feed. Public sector procurement of maize has been introduced like rice and wheat in order to encourage farmers in maize cultivation. The efforts for increasing area and production of maize will be strengthened. The program for increasing area and production of other crops, e.g., potato, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits and spices will gradually be extended under the crop diversification program. 4

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Production of different cash crops including jute, cotton will be increased and efforts will be made to expand their multiple uses. Special development programs will be taken with a view to increasing production of potential crops suitable for the coastal areas and the hill tracts.

As a matter of fact, increased crop production depends on good quality seeds, efficient irrigation management, use of balanced fertilizers and availability of credit in time. In accordance with the free market economy, the important task of agricultural input distribution has largely been shifted to the private sector. Despite its beneficial effects in general, the privatization process has given rise to considerable inefficiency in some cases, such as, marketing and distribution of minor irrigation equipment and fertilizers. It is alleged that the privatization process has also been accompanied by nonavailability, price rise, smuggling and quality degradation of fertilizers. Under this situation the government will seek to: • •

establish and consolidate the distribution system for irrigation equipment, fertilizers, seeds and credit in the light of farmers’ need; and ensure responsibility and accountability of the private sector through strengthening of the relevant legal framework and its enforcement.

The production of crops, especially aman crop is heavily damaged every year due to the inadequate soil moisture regime prevailing in drought affected areas. To combat this situation government has adopted the following policies: • •

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Supplementary irrigation will be ensured in severe and extremely severe drought affected areas. Location specific (including hill tracts) suitable crops will be identified with respect to technological and economic parameters and appropriate strategies will be pursued for cultivating those crops. Measures will be taken to minimize post-harvest losses by introducing appropriate technologies.

Since agricultural production is very expensive and risky, often it is not possible for the farmers to grow crops profitably at the individual level due to the shortage of required labor and capital. Therefore, government will encourage the formation of self-motivated cooperatives for producing and marketing agricultural commodities which should ideally succeed in mobilizing adequate resources (including labor and capital) for more production, income and equity. Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) E-17 Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh.

Agriculture Extension: 5

Agriculture extension is one of the main components of the National Agriculture Policy. There is a need for strengthening agricultural extension service for ensuring proper use of agricultural land and improving land productivity. The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has got the responsibility of providing information on appropriate technologies to the farmers; educating the farmers through proper advice and training; and, thereby motivating the farmers to adopt improved technologies. To strengthen the above mentioned extension services, following steps will be taken: •

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The New Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP) is currently under implementation with the objective of promoting sustainable technology for a gradual development of the improved crop production system. The implementation of NAEP will be reinforced through necessary monitoring. Agricultural research-extension linkage will be further strengthened with a view to transferring new technologies to the farmers. Private sector entrepreneurs, NGOs and farmers will also be involved in strengthening this linkage.

The present agricultural extension set-up is sufficiently broad-based and bolstered by efficient manpower. The following measures will be taken to make this organization more efficient and effective: •

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DAE will prepare feasible and compatible programs for the proper use of cultivable land on the basis of demand for different crops and their production targets. DAE will regularly monitor the supply and availability of quality seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides, etc. in order to facilitate the cultivation of different crops. Besides, DAE will prepare an anticipated report on the increase/decrease of crop-wise demand for different inputs and apprise the authorities at the national level. The use of public mass media i.e. radio, television, newspaper, etc. will be increased for rapid extension of agricultural technologies. In this connection Agriculture Information Service will be strengthened. Proper use of Annual Development Plan allocations to local government will be ensured. Block-wise establishment of demonstration farms, which is already in practice, will be strengthened. Suitable crops, compatible with the overall conditions of the farms, will be determined by DAE. Visits to demonstration farms and interaction with the farmers by the extension workers at an important time of the respective cropping season will be further strengthened. To facilitate rapid transfer of agricultural production technologies, multiple extension approaches such as agricultural fair, field day, farmers’ rally, etc. will be widely practiced. Agriculture extension service will be strengthened to encourage self-motivated cooperative system of production.

http://www.sdnbd.org/sdi/issues/agriculture/national-policy/agriculture_extension.htm NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SYSTEM – AN OVERVIEW

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The Department of Agricultural Extension’s mission is to provide efficient and effective need based extension services to all categories of farmers, to enable them to optimize their use of resources, in order to promote sustainable agricultural and socioeconomic development. The major role of agricultural extension is to disseminate technology to the intended user and induce behavioral change towards adoption of technology. The adoption of improved farming practices would increase production and maintain a balance with demand for increased food production. On the assumption of population increase in Bangladesh, the food demand by 2020 is expected to increase about 2 times. Sustainable agricultural production on long term basis and continuation of consumption trends to meet this demand will be a serious challenge for the extension service. ROLE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE EXTENSION As an agency within the Ministry of Agriculture, the overall purpose of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is the effective implementation of government policy. There are relevant policies specific to the agricultural sector as well as cross cutting commitments such as those concerning environmental management, social development or gender. DAE’s revised extension approach (REA) specifically embraces the Department’s Mission within the context of the New Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP). The principles of the NAEP have been incorporated into the DAE Mission Statement and the Revised Extension Approach (REA). They provide a framework for this Strategic Plan which presents a structure of objectives designed to further implementation of the NAEP. Goal of NAEP is : “Encourage the various partners and agencies within the national agricultural extension system to provide efficient and effective services which complement and reinforce each other, in an effort to increase the efficiency and productivity of agriculture in Bangladesh” COUNTRY PAPER Paper prepared for Regional Workshop on Operationalizing Reforms in Agricultural Extension in South Asia, to be held on 6 -8 February, 2003 at New Delhi, India.

During the past decade, one of the global hallmarks of the ICT revolution has been to leverage its potential in achieving good governance and deepening democracy. The strategic tool for this is e-governance, which may be defined as the public sector's use of ICT with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective.

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Given the reality of Bangladesh, where a majority of the population is primary producers, e-governance is a solution to enhance-access to information for all stakeholders and thereby contributes to a better agriculture society. In contrast to the subsistence based farming about a mere decade back, agriculture, in Bangladesh, is now gradually becoming commercialized and as such knowledge intensive. With this service delivery sector, in the status quo, roping in more that 50% of the nation's labor force and contributing around 25% to the GDP, the uplift of Bangladesh Agriculture, is expected to have considerable positive repercussions in terms of higher economic gain and constitute a substantial step towards poverty reduction- one of our MDGs. e-focus the Weekly e-Governance & Development Insights(UNDP)Issue 2, Volume 1, 21 September 2007

However, the major obstacle for the sector to becoming knowledge intensive is the knowledge gap that exists. Such gap results because the existing system fails to provide the right kind of information at the right time in the right way. Tough some steps has been taken to establish the wind of change in the practical fields of agriculture development, the sector is not getting the expected feedback. As a result reform is needed. Now, I would like to point to some lick age of the agriculture extension project with the help of the above presented documents provided by different organisms of the MOA. 1 Who are the stakeholders? Has GIS been introduced to all level of stakeholders? To answer the question, we need to go through a Communication based assessment of the stake holders. But that is not done yet in any published document of the ministry of agriculture. So the stake holders are not yet being understood to design strategic branding of different services provided by the ministry and it’s organisms. By promoting proper PR activities, the ministry and the government can achieve sustainable e-governance in this Agriculture sector. Yes GIS has been introduced. 2 These goals have no communication plan! How the messages have been disseminated? The department of agriculture extension (DAE) is responsible for dissemination of public messages in the mass media. E.g. Radio & TV. To approach to any mass audience, it is required that, the message to be delivered should be done through communication experts. The brand image of this department will emphasize this promotion a little bit more. PR has the power to bring change in the culture. So, by changing cultural believes of the stake holders, these goals can be achieved easily. 3 How? Isn’t proper communication approach, the best solution for these goals? CBA is missing.

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To disseminate the public data, there should be proper strategy to follow. But there was no strategy found in the data base of agriculture ministry.

Out Come At this pGovernment is week in communications and it also lacks proper knowledhe about the power & possibility of scientific communication.

Recommendations

Factors influencing the communications mix There are at least 5 major influences on what makes a given mix of promotional techniques appropriate. These are:

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The nature of the market The nature of the product The stage in the product life cycle Price and the funds available for promotional activities. http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/W3240E/W3240E13.htm

An organisation's target audience greatly influences the form of communication to be used to disseminate messages. Where a market is comprised of relatively few buyers, in reasonable proximity to one another, then personal selling may prove efficient as well as effective. On the other hand, large and un-identified markets are perhaps unsuitable for personal selling because the costs-per-contact will be high. The customer type also has an impact. A target market made up of industrial purchasers, wholesalers or retailers is more likely to be served by organisations which employ personal selling than is a market of consumers. Human relation or, public relation is very much important at this level of policy planning. The goal might be directed towards the direction of social marketing. Another important consideration is, The State of the prospective customer's knowledge and preferences with respect to the product or service. The two tasks are quite different in nature and may require the use of differing forms of communication. CBA might be a solution.

The key questions at this point are: 9

Message - Is the right message being communicated? Media - Is the right medium or media being employed? Target - Is the target being reached by the communication? Source - Is the source of the information credible with the target audience?

In summary, what needs to be recognised is that it is unlikely that all of the steps in the communication process can be accomplished by a single advertisement or advertising campaign. It should also be recognised that as promotion has a number of long-term goals, so it’s performance cannot be measured simply in terms of sales volumes.

Aaker and Myers10 say that: “Advertising objectives, like organisational objectives, should be operational. They should be effective criteria for decision making and should provide standards with which results can be compared. Furthermore, they should be effective communication tools, providing a line between strategic and tactical decisions.” An extensive review of this empirical evidence may be found in E.M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, The Free Press 3rd edition, 1983.

Public relations & Development: 10

Publicity and public relations are not one and the same thing. Organisations often seek publicity, i.e. to disseminate newsworthy items of information about itself, its products/services or about its personnel through the media but does not pay to do so as in the case of advertising. Instead, the organisation hopes that the item is sufficiently newsworthy to appear in an editorial feature, in a newspaper or magazine, or that a radio and/or television station will want to interview an official of the organisation about the item. Publicity can be a highly effective communication tool, since ‘news’ is often perceived by the target group to have greater authenticity and credibility than ‘advertising’. Moreover, it can penetrate the defences of individuals who intentionally ignore advertising and the overtures of sales personnel. The main disadvantage of publicity is that the organisation has relatively little control over it. The ‘public’ referred to in this definition is any group having an actual or potential interest in, or impact upon, an organisation's prospects of achieving its goals. Such publics would be: The community: An organisation needs to be accepted by the local community. To this end, a community relations programme should be established. Such a programme should devise ways for the organisation to become involved in community activities. A public relations programme can give an organisation a ‘personality’ and, hopefully, one which the local community likes. Consumers: Public relations should be used to nurture a positive image of the organisation and its products and services, a belief in its intrinsic fairness in dealings with customers and the perception that the organisation values loyal customers. Other channel members: Wherever the organisation is placed within the marketing channel (as a grower, processor, wholesaler, retailer etc.) it should take cognisance of the need to develop and maintain positive relations with its partners within the marketing system. The public relations programme should make them feel like partners, e.g. by making them privy to privileged information about the organisation's products, promotional programmes, marketing plans, future developments and/or policies. Opinion leaders: Pressure groups and trade associations are examples of groups which can influence both public and government opinion and therefore should be a target for the organisation's public relations activities Where there is potential conflict between the interests of these groups and those of the organisation it is vital that there remains a dialogue between them so that factual information, rather than rumours, is communicated. In many cases, an effective public relations programme can help avoid conflicts from arising. It can do so by projecting a corporate image of a caring, responsible and responsive organisation. For its part, the organisation must seek to understand the position taken by pressure groups on particular issues. The Seeds Of Success By Communicating With The Market “Up until a few years ago, the Seed Co-op was production driven”, admitted the Marketing Manager of The Seed Company of Zimbabwe Limited. He was referring to a situation where the member growers decided how much of each crop they wanted to grow and then asked the Seed Co-op to sell what they were willing to produce. The Marketing Manager went on to say that the situation had changed and members had become, “…very much market-led.” He meant that members had come to understand the need to produce according to customer needs. The Seed Co-op made itself aware of customer needs through marketing communications. Zimbabwe's Seed Co-op formerly enjoyed a monopoly and did not see the need to advertise. This changed with the introduction of market reforms that opened the seed supply business to competition. The Seed Co-op set its communication objectives as:

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• To make groups, in addition to farmers, understand the role which the Seed Co-op played in the country's agriculture. These groups were to include: government, financial institutions and manufacturers. • To create awareness that the Seed Co-op sold more than maize seed, • To communicate the importance of certified seed, and • To make potential customers aware of newly introduced seed varieties. The seed Co-op's campaign was extensive, and costly. It covered: • Rural radio advertising, • Rural bus panels, • Posters with calendars; these showed the various agro-regions of the country and their recommended crops, • Press advertising in both commercial and peasant farmer publications; • Rural cinema; • Sponsorship of televised weather reports, and • Television advertising. A post-evaluation of the impact of the advertising campaign was undertaken and the Seed Coop pronounced itself satisfied by the high level of recall of its promotional theme, “War Against Hunger”. The Seed Co-op employed both sales and extension personnel but the two were seen to have distinct roles. In the words of Mr. de Woronin, “A different personality and approach is needed for selling, as opposed to extension work, which we at Seed Co-op have learnt the hard way. Extension people cannot necessarily sell, and vice versa.” Public relations also figured strongly in the Seed Co-op of Zimbabwe's marketing communications programme. The organisation became very active in both national and provincial trade fairs and in local field days, in a bid to establish sound working relations with farmers. Agricultural and food marketing management, FAO Corporate Document Repository.(Chapter 10)

The methods employed by public relations professionals include: • • • • • • •

Sponsorship In-house publications Community projects Press releases Video films Training courses, Annual reports.

It will be most effective, and controllable, when it has specific objectives, with respect to specific publics, and when it is coordinated with the forms of marketing communication.

Finally For achieving the goal of successful e-governance, I would like to present: 12

Recommendations from the World Congress on Communication for Development: Based on the arguments, in order to make much more significant progress on the very difficult development challenges that developing world face we recommend that policy makers and founders do the following: 1. Overall national development policies should include specific communication for development components. 2. Development organisations should include communication for development as a central element at the inception of programmes. 3. Strengthen the communication for development capacity within countries and organisations at all levels. This includes: people in their communities; communication for development specialists and other staff including through the further development of training courses and academic programmes. 4. Expand the level of financial investment to ensure adequate, coordinated, financing of the core elements of communication for development as outlined under Strategic Requirements above. This includes budget line[s] for development communication. 5. Adoption and implement of policies and legislation that provide an enabling environment for communication for development – including free and pluralistic media, the right to information and to communicate. 6. Development communication programmes should be required to identify and include appropriate monitoring and evaluation indicators and methodologies throughout the process 7. Strengthen partnerships and networks at international, national and local levels to advance communication for development and improve development outcomes 8. Move towards a rights based approach to communication for development http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTDEVCOMMENG/Resources/RomeConsensus0 7. pdf

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