Abstract
Zinc deficiency poses a significant health challenge in Bangladesh, particularly among preschool aged children and non-pregnant, non-lactating women. To address this issue, the government of Bangladesh has made efforts since 2013 to promote the cultivation and consumption of zinc bio fortified rice and wheat, considering rice’s significant role as a staple food in the country. Despite significant investments in the development and promotion of zinc-bio fortified rice in Bangladesh, adoption among smallholder farmers remains limited.
In empirical literature, it is well established that the introduction of any new technology like new seeds, or new machine often brings uncertainty, as the costs and benefits of adopting new technology are unknown to farmers. Therefore, in the absence of proper information on the new technology, the expected adoption tends to be low. To assure and convince farmers about the new technology it is imperative to provide adequate information relating to new technology.
The central hypothesis of this study is that the lack of proper information on zinc bio fortified rice is the major reason why zinc bio fortified rice is not scaled up in Bangladesh. In this study, to examine the issue, we have implemented four different treatment methods. Additionally, there is no adequate information on the agronomic and economic performance of zinc bio fortified rice compared to non bio fortified rice. These are the reason, why the adoption of zinc bio fortified rice is low in Bangladesh.
To examine the issue, this study selected 39 villages in four subdistricts in Faridpur districts of Bangladesh. A baseline survey identified that approximately 3400 farmers cultivate the dry season boro rice in sampled 39 villages. We randomly selected 24 villages and informed farmers about the benefits of the cultivation and consumption of zinc bio fortified rice. The other 15 villages we have treated as controlled villages.
To disseminate information on the health benefits of the consumption of zinc biofortified rice, we have implemented three interventions: yard meetings with the farmers and their spouse, leaflet distribution explaining the health benefits of the consumption of bio fortified rice, and advertisement about bio fortified rice using loudspeakers. We have implemented every interventions in 8 villages separately and then mixed the interventions.
In addition, out of the sampled villages we have distributed 5kg of zinc bio fortified seeds (BRRI dhan100) to 207 farmers with an objective to examine the comparative economic benefits of cultivation of zinc bio fortified rice
It is expected that farmers in the experiment villages will be informed of the benefits of zinc bio fortified rice and thus they will cultivate and consume zinc bio fortified rice. Furthermore, examining data from farmers who received free zinc bi fortified rice seeds, this study intends to examine the economic performance of zinc biofortified rice compared to other commercial rice varieties.
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We have implemented the project during November January 2023.
We are in a process now to conduct a mid-line survey in 2025