PKSF sees success in coffee cultivation in northern Bangladesh
Coffee cultivation in northern Bangladesh seems to have great potential, as farmers in the region have seen significant success in coffee bean farming with support from PKSF’s Promoting Agricultural Commercialization and Enterprises (PACE) project.
In Bangladesh, farmers in the hilly areas grow coffee beans on a small scale. The PACE project took up a pilot initiative to expand it in other parts of the country, including in the plain land of Naogaon district in northern Bangladesh.
A high-value product, coffee beans can be highly profitable because of its huge demand in national and international markets.
The initiative has created new avenues for farmers to enhance their income with financial and technical support from the PACE project, which is working to develop micro-enterprises in different districts of the country.
As part of the initiative, PKSF’s Partner Organization Dabi Moulik Unnayan Sangstha has facilitated a fruit orchard, set up on a cooperative basis, in Sapahar upazila of Naogaon. The garden was set up under a sub-project of PACE titled Expansion of High-value Fruit and Crop Cultivation Technology Transfer.
Since 2019, PACE has been supporting farmers to grow coffee in the orchard which now has about 1,200 Robusta coffee plants. Many of the plants are already bearing beans. Each plant is expected to yield about 1kg of ripe beans.
After harvest, farmers will use the beans to grow more plants to expand the coffee farm.
Apart from coffee cultivation, PACE promotes various high-value crop and fruit cultivation technologies in Bangladesh to augment the income of small farmers. The IFAD-supported project, which has been in operation since 2015, has expanded cultivation of dragon fruits, coffee beans, avocado, Taiwanese mango and barhi date in different regions of the country.
