DHAKA, Nov 29, 2018 (BSS) – An agreement was signed on Wednesday between
Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh and Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO) on ‘Strengthening of Market Linkages and Technical
Capacity for Agricultural Groups to Promote Income Generation in Cox’s Bazar.
Jeroen Steeghs, Head of Development Cooperation of the Netherland Embassy
and Robert D Simpson, FAO Representative in Bangladesh signed the funding
agreement at the embassy on behalf of the respective organizations, a FAO
press release said.
The agreement aims to provide USD 5.378 million to help farmers in Cox’s
Bazar as the country is hosting Rohingya people, who entered Bangladesh from
Rakhine state in Myanmar.
These grant funds are a direct contribution by the people of the
Netherlands to an integrated multi-donor response to address the damage
caused to the environment in Cox’s Bazar by uncontrolled harvesting of
firewood and to help rebuild livelihoods of the host community in a project
called SAFE+ (Safe approaches to fuel and energy plus environmental and
livelihood restoration). At the same time, the increased production of highly
nutritious high value vegetable crops will be freshly available for the
Rohingya camp population and help improve their diet and nutritional status.
The overall project will provide liquefied petroleum gas cooking stoves
and cylinders through FAO, IOM and WFP to both Rohingya people and host
community families to reduce their dependence on firewood for cooking. This
will reduce the pressure on the local forests and allow replanting to
commence by FAO in partnership with the Forest Department.
The generous funding from the Netherlands Government will be utilized by
FAO to implement Strengthening of Market Linkages and Technical Capacity for
Agricultural Groups component of SAFE+ to assist more than 200,000
beneficiaries in the sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ramu, Teknaf and
Ukhiya through:
Developing opportunities for host community agriculturalist to benefit
from the refugee presence through market linkages and increased production,
the increased market demand is an opportunity for local farmers to increase
production and diversify their cropping strategy to take advantage of this
opportunity.
The USD5.378 million grant funding from the Netherlands will support the
project for three years and will play a key role in FAO’s 5-year Resilience
Strategy and support plan for Cox’s Bazar District developed in partnership
with the Government of Bangladesh agencies.
Implementation of this project will contribute to increased production of
high value vegetables crops in the Cox’s Bazar area and enhance availability
of diversified diets for both Rohingya population and host community.