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EqualiTEA III: Sustainable Livelihoods for 1500 Smallholder Farming Households (7500 people) in The Extreme North of Bangladesh Mid Term Review March 2017 Traidcraft Exchange Introduction Bangladesh is one of the most deprived country in the region; incidence of poverty is very high particularly in extreme north Tetulia, Panchgarh Sadar in Panchgarh district and Baliadangi in Thakurgaon district. The soil here is sandy, acidic and bears close affinity with the soil of the old Himalayan basin. The growing tea sector has ushered in a new hope for enhancing the standard of socio-economic life and women empowerment in this region. The STG (Small Tea Growers) sector is now an important sector for decreasing the gap between increasing domestic demand for tea and slow growth of production in Bangladesh. This sector has a huge potential in meeting the increasing domestic demand for tea. Therefore, the EqualiTEA project, has a vital role to play in bringing a visible change in the lives of the poor farmers. The EqualiTEA III project planned to support small and marginal farmers in Northern Bangladesh to grow tea to give farmers a diversified, sustainable source of income and reduce poverty. The project aims to build an inclusive value chain and to encourage smallholder farmers to work collectively and collaboratively. Duration 36 months (1 October 2015 to 30 September 2018) Budget £ 614,565 Partners - Traidcraft Exchange - Bikash Bangladesh Location Panchgarh District (Tetulia and Panchgarh Sadar Upazilas) and Thakurgaon District (Baliadangi Upazila) Target Beneficiaries - By the end of Year 1, 1500 Smallholder Households Tea Growers have been reached. - Farmers are organized into 60 groups (average size: 25 households) Field Staff - 6 staff: 1 Project Coordinator of EqualiTEA working with 5 Field Facilitators (FF). They are also called Project Officers. - Panchgarh Sadar – 02 FF - Tetulia - 01 FF - Baliadangi - 2 FF Management Support Field teams are managed and supervised by the local implementing partner Bikash Bangladesh based in Panchgarh. Project Outcome 1,500 smallholder farming households in the extreme north of Bangladesh are reducing poverty and making more sustainable livelihoods through tea cultivation Project Outputs 1.1,500 smallholder farming households are working collectively and collaboratively to increase their resilience. 2.1,500 smallholder farming households have improved their agricultural practices. Out of 1500 STGs, 812 STGs have started cultivating tea and yet to see increase in income through tea cultivation. 3.1,500 smallholder farming households have appropriate on-going services/support for agricultural cultivation. 4.Ongoing policy works to keep systems in place to support smallholder farming households to diversify their income and increase their resilience. Objectives The purposes of this evaluation are • To learn from experience specially to interpret the successes and failures so that both ongoing and future activities can be improved. • To investigate transparency in responsible utilization of the resources • To deepen knowledge and understanding of the assumptions, options and limits of the project activities • To improve communication and foster understanding within and between the PMT members, partners and donors. Achievements till date - At the beginning of the project implementation, the project has conducted a day long Staff orientation program for capacity Building of project staff on Group Formation and Project Management. All project staff and Executive Director (ED) from Bikash Bangladesh actively participated in this training. Both of these trainings were conducted by Traidcraft personnel. - The project had successfully completed its baseline survey and well-being survey. The project team has successfully carried out Focus Group Discussion (FGDs) with 60 Groups for needs assessment and group selection based on the criteria set for target participants. - In the project till date, a total of 3000 STGs have been mobilized into 60 Primary Producer Societies (PPS) formed in the project area of Tetulia, Panchgarh, Sadar and Baliadangi Upazila in Thakurgaon district. All of the 60 groups elected their 9-member governing body to operate the group; and selected 2 BSPs to receive technical training so as to serve their needs better. - From the 60 groups, 2 members (president and secretary) from each group were selected as group leaders. Hence, a total of 120 Group leaders received training on effective group operation. 120 GLs have knowledge on effective group operation. 3000 STGs received training on effective group operation. All trainings were conducted by GLs. The STGs now have clear understanding and education about effective group operation. - The project encouraged the farmers and made them introduced to regular savings.120 Group leaders received training on group savings and investment scheme and also 3000 STGs received training on group savings and investment scheme. After this training, 120 Group leaders and 3000 STGs have knowledge on the topics. 60 functional groups have been doing meetings regularly every month. They are collecting savings regularly and creating awareness about the benefit of working together and ensuring that the small tea growers are engaged in collective action. 52 PPSs established financial relationship with banks and other FIs. - A total of 120 Barefoot Service Provider received technical training on Income Generating Activities. 120 BSPs have knowledge on crop cultivation and livestock rearing.3000 STGs received training on income generating activities. All trainings were conducted by those BSPs. The STGs now have clear understanding and education about alternative livelihood option. - 3000 STGs (60 Groups) received training on modern agricultural practice, they have knowledge on modern agricultural practice which would be helpful and they would benefit from its application on their fields. - A total of 120 Barefoot Service Provider received 03 module technical training on Tea Cultivation. 120 BSPs have gained sufficient knowledge on 03 module technical training on Tea Cultivation. And they conducted the same trainings for 3000 STGs. The STGs now have clear understanding and education about tea cultivation. - Consultation meeting between prospective smallholder tea growers and Govt. and Private Stakeholders was held with view to introducing and linking the STGs with public service providers (extension officers). - Linkage building and consultation meetings between farmer groups and tea factories were held all in 3 Upazilas. - Linkage building regional workshops between smallholder farmers and local service providers held at Muktijoddha Complex Bhaban, Panchgarh. Respective district and Upazila govt. officers of three Upazilas (Sadar and Tetulia Upazila under Panchgarh district, Baliadangi Upazila under Thakurgaon district) and also different level stakeholders like BLFs, journalist, one or two participants from each group attended the workshop. They are linked to public service providers to whom they can now go for any services easily. - An Association is formed in Tetulia Upazila and two more associations are in the process of formation and a combined regional association will be formed incorporating all three associations. - Tea sector research and tea policy paper preparation works are being conducted by Mr. Kawsar Rahman, consultant hired by TXUK for policy research. He already conducted two important Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with high officials and published articles on those interviews in the leading newspaper of the country named ‘Daily Janakantha’. The two interviews were – one with the honorable commerce minister Mr Tofayel Ahmed and another one with a senior secretary Mr Hetayet Ullah Al Mamun. The Commerce Minsiter said “Small scale tea cultivation has the potential to bring revolutionary change for the country’s economy. This concept is transforming the lives of our small farmers in the poverty-stricken areas. We will be with all the organizations providing support to promote small tea growing.” On the other hand, honorable Senior Secretary expressed his hope in his speech saying “small tea growing can eradicate poverty from rural people’s lives. 1600 hectors of land will be under small tea growing in near future and there will be tea action center in the North of Bangladesh.” The scanned copy of the articles is attached in the annex 7. - The project provided 16,24,000 Sapling (BDT 79,57,600 @ 4.9/ Sapling) among 812 selected small tea growers based on their needs. The project provided BDT 18,38,500 as partial credit among 812 selected small tea growers based on their need assessment. The credit support is helping to achieve increased technical and organizational capacity of the STGs to improve their livelihoods. - The overall expenditure incurred under the EqualiTea III budget is 51.474% after the completion of 18 months. The major expenditure is on Project activities which is an evidence of the successful implementation of all target activities. Relevance Before the project, extensive research was done to know the viability of the tea industry, its value chain and the beneficiary requirements. In 2000, Bangladesh Tea Board did soil test in the extreme north of Bangladesh and recommended the land as tea growing region in the extreme north of Bangladesh based on which the target locations were decided. The beneficiaries are chosen from small and marginal farmers (owning 1.44 acre of land) and half of them are women as the project took a

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