The proposed BAKB-Learning Centre will serve as a hub of online agricultural information management system. It will provide updated agricultural contents and location-specific agricultural technology through internet, CD and print. Also a feedback has to be developed. BAKB will be to help farmers improve the production and income from agricultural activities, and thereby, to contribute to strengthening food security and reducing poverty.
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
BAKB will provide updated agricultural content/information including rice, wheat, maize, vegetables, fruits, horticultural crops, livestock, fishery production technology, pest management, location-specific agricultural technology etc. through different media.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Other tools
Professional web portal will be developed
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established that will contribute to the success of the project.
Already planned to established BAKB and Learning Centre in partnership with different Government and Non-Government organizations support from international donors. This will require different institutions and stakeholders to work together. Information are being collected from relevant research institutions, GO, NGOs and development projects and designing in an effective and attractive format. The BAKB portal will be publish very soon.
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
A Multimedia Display Centre will be established to display agricultural products and technology video.
100 Farmers to be trained under this project. Professional Agricultural Research Scientist will be facilitated the training
Interactive Video on Technology and Flip Charts will be used as training tools.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
Some equipment (computer, printer) and technical facilities will be provided by our own sources.
Organization
Bangladesh Agricultural Knowledge Bank and Learning Centre
6 comments
Hi Mr. Mannan,
The title of your project seems to be a nice job and I am not sure with whom your project will work! if the communities are farmer then how they reach your citizen media facilities?
Secondly, Researchers have a giant database and information platform, on the contrary, the other extension agents working for dissemination of those messages published. The interim agents i.e. extension agents are translating the tech messages for the farmers in a way they could digest.
Whether your project proposal have any window for farmer’s participation into the media sub-system (story, blog, networking), if so how?
About more than 70% Bangladeshi farmers have no formal education and how they enter into the media networking or story building of their own?
The proposal seems to be a fallacy! what will be your next step to recoup theme of the Rising Voices.
Thanks for your great endeavor,
Hi
Thank you very much for your comments and questions.
1. Our project’s main target groups are farmers and agricultural extension workers. However, ultimately students, teachers, scientists, journalists, researchers, business man, dealers will be benefited from the BAKB-Learning Centre.
2. National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES) institutes, different universities and development projects or programs in Bangladesh are generating new technologies to improve the production, processing and utilization of agricultural commodities. Researchers and agricultural workers from different NGOs and private institutions, farmers and other relevant actors are also generating lots of information on different activities in the country. But this technology and information are not going in right time to the farmers’ field and general users can not access easily. Also the conventional methods of technology transfer and communication by GOs & NGOs in Bangladesh quite often do not help obtaining the right information at the right time. Farmers also often find it very difficult to get solutions to their problems as fast as they expect. However, these knowledge and information generated remain scattered with different GOs, NGOs, private and even individual farmers. And, such information must be reproduced and presented in an effective and attractive format so that the users understand those easily. Also these information needs to available in the attractive media i.e. in the internet so that people can access from a central point.
BAKB reproduced those research materials in effective and attractive format (print, CD and internet) and available at BAKB Centre as well as web. Technology Video and other visible materials are open for farmers which are easy understandable for non-educate farmers.
This project is an window for farmers participation in to the media. Many agricultural technology information are available in the BAKB centre. So farmers and extension worker can learn from BAKB also can share idea with the Expert/Researchers via mobile phone or through video chatting. This systems (blog, video chat, forum, networking) are being developed.
The project is being designed. The WEB PORTAL Demo is ready and will open very soon.
Detailed project description, planning, implementing process have been described in the project proposal.
Thank you very much for your valuable comments.
Thanks Mr. Mannan for your long comments. We have been looking forward for the web portal you are going to publish soon.
One thing should be cleared that what are the mechanism that farmers could participate through your web portal. How do the farmers get access to citizen media and express their stories exclusively?
The farmers are living in the remote village and mostly dispersed area. Do you think you call them individual to put their hands into the media without formal learning or education?
Wishing your great success
BAKB Learning Centre is the Agricultural Knowledge Bank. This knowledge bank (both online and offline) is being organized with the latest agricultural technology information. A well trained Centre Manager will operate the centre. Farmer will come to BAKB Learning Centre to get advisory support related to agricultural. The Centre Manager will try to provide support/advice immediately getting information from the Knowledge Bank web portal as well as from the display materials. If the information is not available on the web or from the display materials, the Centre Manager will communicate with the scientists/expert who’s directly linked with BAKB.
Yes farmers are based in remote area but will come to BAKB centre to get the advice.
At the starting/inception page BAKB will create awareness to participate in the BAKB network. A group of farmers will be trained on latest agricultural technology. Flip Charts and Video will be used as training tools.
Day by day the BAKB Learning Centre will be popular and farmers and local people will come to get advice.
Yes the web portal is being ready to publish. I can’t show now because some sections are being developed. I am sure this web portal will be a model of agricultural knowledge management. To fully operate the Web portal and BAKB Learning Centre it will be needed donor funding support.
Hi Mannan,
Thanks for your long comments.
I am not sure how farmers will enter into the citizen media. The Web portal will be from the organization to be designed. Ok, then what farmers will do online and how the remote farmer will be organized to put hands in the ICT tools or blog writing? Do they know English or do they use their local language?
How all the works to be done?
Thanks
Hi Esonaf Killary,
Thank you again for your interest to know about the BAKB Management System.
BAKB is a dynamic source of agricultural knowledge. It contains agricultural knowledge and agricultural technology information. Most of the materials are fact sheets, training manuals, book lets, leaflets, brochures, posters, videos, which are prepared in Bangla and easy understandable to farmers and extension workers. Senior scientists of the respective institutes have been prepared the contents and fact sheets and other training and communications materials.
These materials are available in the BAKB centre and will be used in three different ways below by farmers, block supervisors and extension workers:
(1) Internet – will be used who have internet access
(2) CD/DVD – will be used who have no internet access but have computer
(3) Print – will be used who don’t have internet and computer.
So it is clear that farmer will not enter in the citizen media directly at this stage but they will get services what they demand.
Farmers are not educated and they are not able to collect these technology information from those research institutes.
BAKB will serve as a media to deliver those materials to the farmers door-steps.
Hope you are clear now the BAKB Management. This project is very much essential for the Bangladeshi Rural People.
Please see the website http://knowledgebank-brri.org/index.php. This is successful project and I am the Manager of this project. Second phase is completing this year. But this project is on only rice and my plan is the whole agriculture (BAKB).
Thanks
Md Abdul Mannan