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The Vision of Agri-environmental Sustainability in Bangladesh: How the Policies, Strategies and Institutions Delivered?

Ranjan Roy*
Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Ngai Weng Chan
School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Takehiko Uemura
Global Cooperation Institute (GCI), Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan

Hidefumi Imura
Global Cooperation Institute (GCI), Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Agriculture and environmental change are tightly interconnected in ways that require active roles of policy, strategy, and institution for the promotion of sustainable agriculture development. To explore this issue, this study addresses two questions 1) to what extent is environmental integration reflected in policies, strategies, and institutions And 2) how do these policies, strategies, and institutions turn ambitions into actions, By adopting two frameworks developed by the OECD and the European Environment Agency as well as critically reviewing policy documents and conducting the key informant interviews, the results revealed that most of the policies and strategies integrated the environmental issue and had stipulated action plans and governance structure for implementation. The results also found that institutions marginally integrated the environmental concerns and faced several problems that hindered turning ambitions into actions. Overall, although policy instruments were good, the vision of sustainability was in difficulty to actualizing into action due to weak institutional setup. This study highlights the interdependence between the dimensions of policy implementation process. Policy implications should emphasize enhancing institutional capacity, revamping agricultural advisory services, and empowering Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) to translate the vision of agri-environmental sustainability into action.

Keywords: Policy; Strategy; Institution; Development; Sustainable Agriculture; Bangladesh

Location:

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Performance

Objectives:

To what extent is EPI reflected in policies, strategies, and institutions?
How do these policies, strategies, and institutions turn ambitions into actions?

Methodology:

This study employed three methods, namely 1) adopting the frameworks developed by the OECD and European Environment Agency (EEA) for evaluating EPI in policies, strategies, and institutions; 2) reviewing six policies, three strategies and other relevant documents; and 3) conducting the key informant interviews with the mid- and junior-level officers of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) through phone and consultation of the institution’s website. The framework developed by the EEA was applied for examining sectorial policy integration. Taking research limitations into account, only the three core agricultural institutions mentioned above were collectively considered as the agricultural sector. Annual reports, project reports, newsletters, journal articles, books, and research reports were reviewed to understand the actual provision, governance structure, and financial conditions of the institutions to turning objectives into actions of sustainable agri-environmental development.

Source of Information: Journal of Environmental Protection, 2013, 4, 40-51

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

1.

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Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The policy implications are clear. First, policies should emphasize enhancing institutional capacity by fulfilling the vacant posts, building human capital, and improving physical facilities. Additionally, increasing government budget for agricultural institutions, particularly for the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is indispensable. Second, policies geared towards addressing the shortcomings of agricultural advisory services through empirically assessing farmers’ extension demands, and according to demand DAE should formulate feasible strategies to improve the quality of extension personnel and services as well as to promote demand-driven partnerships with other organizations. Third, empowerment of BARC is significant to strengthen the national agricultural research capability and quality through facilitating and integrating the agricultural institutions. And fourth, is to set pragmatic policy implementation strategy by reorienting the monitoring and evaluation bodies, as well as to formulate clear guidelines, legislation, and institutional legal structures for realistic actions, and enhance participation of local institutions from the outset of the policy cycle.

Knowledge Management: Journal