Agricultural Value Chains Insights: Opportunities in Bangladesh Event Highlights

The Agricultural Value Chains Insights: Opportunities in Bangladesh event was held on November 22, 2016 at the Amari Hotel in Dhaka. It was co-hosted by USAID’s Mobile Solutions Technical Assistance and Research (mSTAR) project, implemented by FHI 360, and USAID’s Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) project, implemented by DAI. The event was attended by 50 participants from 30 organizations. The event provided an opportunity to foster networking between agriculture value chain actors, regulators, multi-lateral donor agencies, development organizations, digital financial services (DFS) providers, banks and insurance providers.

Two major reports related to AVCs in Bangladesh, “Study of Pattern of Financial Flow within Market System” and “Integrating Digital Financial Services into Agricultural Value Chains: A Bangladesh Market Landscape Assessment”, were launched in this event. Both of these reports shed light on the financial behaviors of actors along the value chain, and offer recommendations for how opportunities stemming from those behaviors can be realized. The purpose of both studies was therefore to assess the potential to increase value chain efficiency and also to map the payment flows in the AVCs. The event concluded with a panel discussion that focused on the potential of digital financial services within agriculture value chains in Bangladesh.