This document provides an overview of the state of agricultural information systems in Bangladesh. It begins with basic information on Bangladesh such as population, percentage engaged in agriculture, and sectoral contributions to GDP. It then discusses how agricultural information is produced through research at various national institutes. It outlines some of the key ways agricultural information is disseminated such as through field workers, newspapers/magazines, radio, television, mobile apps, and indigenous knowledge practices like folk songs.

1. State of Agricultural Information
Systems in Bangladesh
Md. Anwarul Islam, PhD
Librarian, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University
&
Secretary General, Library Association of
Bangladesh

2. Gratitude to the farmers who successfully run
the rural economy in this pandemic.

3. “My Village -- My Town”

4. Outline of the Lecture
• Basic Information on Bangladesh
• Agricultural Information Production
• Agricultural Information Dissemination
• Indigenous agricultural knowledge (IAK)

5. Basic Information
on
Bangladesh

6. Basic Information
Area (Sq. Km) 1,47,570
Population (In Million)
– Population Census 2011 151.7
– Estimated 2018 163.7
– Literacy Rate 73 % (Approx)

7. Basic Information
Number of Households by Rural & Urban
• Total dwelling house hold – 35.53 million
• Rural dwelling house hold – 29.62 million (83.37%)
• Urban dwelling house hold – 5.9 million (16.63%)
Percentage of Households having no Own Land
• Total – 11.33
• Urban – 28.79
• Rural – 7.84

8. Basic Information
Percentage of Total Labour Force by Broad Sectors
– Agriculture Sector 40.6
– Industry Service 20.4
– Services 39

9. Basic Information
Broad Sectoral Shares in GDP and Growth Rate at
Constant Prices (FY 2019-2020 (p) in million)
Agriculture 3,476,381
Agriculture and Forestry 2,651,815
• Crops & horticulture 1,830,185
• Animal Farming 466,733
• Forest and related services 354,897
Fishing 824,565

10. Basic Information
Sectoral Share of GDP at Constant Prices, 2019-20(p)
Agriculture 13.35
Agriculture and Forestry 9.83
• Crops & horticulture 6.76
• Animal Farming 1.43
• Forest and related services 1.64
Fishing 3.52

11. Agricultural Information Production

12. Agricultural Information Production
• Determine Problems and Hypothesis
• Collection of related literatures
• Finding funds
• Laboratory research
• Filed research
• Finding
• Experiment or experimental fields in various area
• Publication or Ready for out reach

13. Development projects/program on
AIS
• Establishment of Community Rural Radio to share information on
modern agricultural practices among rural farmers community.
• Implementing projects on the marketing of agricultural products
and development of rural communication to ensure fair price of
agricultural products.
• Establishment of Agriculture Information and Communication
Centre (AICC) at union level.
• Promotion of agriculture and agriculture based services through the
development of several online based activities such as Online
Fertiliser Recommendation Software, Bangladesh Rice Knowledge
Bank etc.
• Establishment of a call center at the head office of Agriculture
Information Service (AIS).

14. Agricultural Information Dissemination

15. Development projects/program on
AIS
• Promotion of agriculture and agriculture based services through mobile
operators.
• Implementing project for the establishment of Post-Entry Quarantine
Centre.
• Promotion of organic pest control method and organic agriculture
activities.
• Implementing a project on Genome Sequencing of Jute for selection of
jute cultivation area and extension of Ribbon Rating Technology.
• Extension and popularisation of cultivation of vegetables and spices on
floating bed in water logging area.
• Promoting participation of women in agricultural sector to alleviate
poverty and create employment opportunities.

16. National Agricultural Research System (NARS)
NARS Institutes
• Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Gazipur
• Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) Gazipur
• Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) Dhaka
• Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture
(BINA) Mymensingh
• Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute (BSRI) Ishurdi
• Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) Dhaka
• Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) Mymensingh
• Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) Savar
• Bangladesh Forest Research Institute (BFRI) Chittagong
• Bangladesh Tea Research Institute (BTRI) Srimong

17. Man to man services
(provided by field level workers)
Individual
– Farm & home visit
– Field day
– Farmer call
Group
– Training
– Poster
– Radio
– TV

18. News papers & Magazines
Registered (Accept Online version)
– Daily newspapers - 1268
– Fort-nightly - 213
– Weekly - 1181
– Monthly - 410
– Etc.

19. Radio
PUBLIC
• Bangladesh Betar - 1
– Providing extended service i.e. FM, Mediam wave and
Short wave
– Covers entire Bangladesh
– Covers all over the world for the specialized services.
PRIVATE
22 private FM radio centres

20. Community Radio
Total 15 Community Radio Centres Established
– One for News and Entertainment &
– 14 for Agricultural News, News and
Entertainment.

21. Private radio
• 22 private FM radio stations

22. Television
PUBLIC
– 4 stations
PRIVATE
– 30 stations

23. YouTube & FB
• Number of exact chanbels are not available
• All Private TV channels are providing the links
in YouTube.
• A huge number of facebook Krishi Channels
are available.
** We are worried about uncensored broadcast of the YouTube
and FB channels.

24. Call Center
• Krishi Call Center
– Short code 16123
0.25 taka per minutes (excluded vat & taxes)
Started its journey in 2014.
Krishi Call Centre is a joint initiative of Practical Action in
Bangladesh and Agricultural Information Service (AIS) under the
Ministry of Agriculture.
A Report shows On average, around 500 calls come from farmers
every day.
Also revealed around 72 percent of calls came from agriculture
sector, 18 percent from livestock sector and 10 percent from
fisheries sector.
The Daily Sun, 23 May 2018
** It can be toll free services

25. Krishi batayan
• 3331 will provide the agricultural services
through the local agricultural office.
– This service is called the “Krishi Batayan.”
– Prior registration is needed.

26. Mobile apps
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)
with support from the Access to Information
(a2i) Programme of prime minister’s office
(PMO) developed three mobile phone
applications
– Krishaker Digital Thikana,
– Krishaker Janala and
– Balaynashok Nirdeshika

27. Mobile apps

28. Give back the forest
ফিফিয়ে দাও অিণ্য

29. Indigenous agricultural knowledge (IAK)

30. Khonar bochon
যে না য ানন খনার বচন
সংসানর তার চচর পচন।
আষায়ে পয়েি শ্রাবয়ণ্ পুয়িা
ধাে লাগাও যত পায়িা।
পটল বুেয়ল িাগুয়ণ্
িলে বায়ে ফিগুয়ণ্।
ভায়েি চাফি, আফিয়েি চাফি
কলাই কফি যত পাফি।
গাছ গাছাফল ঘে রিায়ব ো
গাছ আয়ছ তায়ত িল হয়ব ো।
খো বয়ল শুয়ে যাও
োফিয়কল মূয়ল ফচটা দাও
গাছ হে তাজা রমাটা
তাোতাফে ধয়ি রগাটা।
ডাক রছয়ে বয়ল িাবণ্
কলা রিায়ব আষাে শ্রাবণ্।