Economic Reporter :
By developing high-yielding seeds suitable for shifting climate conditions, Lal Teer hopes to help farmers in Bangladesh feed the country’s 165 million people – while also increasing their income.
When her husband was paralysed by a stroke, Shirina Begum faced a bleak future: a sick partner to care for, a family to feed, and no regular income. But once she started planting seeds for vegetables on her small plot of land, everything changed.
Jump forward five years, and Begum’s bumper crops of aborigine, bitter gourd and more are bringing in enough money that she can even put her daughter through college – she hopes she’ll be a doctor.
It’s an impressive turnaround, and one that reflects a seismic shift in Bangladesh’s seed sector over the past two decades. For Begum, the game-changer was access to vegetable seeds produced by Lal Teer Seed, the country’s largest private seed company, which was only able to enter the market after reforms in the 1990s ended the public sector stranglehold.
“Before using Lal Teer’s seeds, I couldn’t cover our costs,” says Begum. “But now I am getting more harvests, my income is increasing, and my family’s lives are more comfortable.”
By developing high-yielding seeds suited to shifting climatic conditions, and distributing these up and down Bangladesh, Lal Teer is intent on changing the narrative. “We have limited land. We have to produce more is the simple answer,” says Lal Teer’s managing director, Mahbub Anam.
Lal Teer joined Business Call to Action in 2016 with a promise to provide 30 percent of the quality seeds needed to secure Bangladesh’s food supply by 2020. Now, it sells more than 130 varieties of 33 different vegetables to approximately 17 million customers, and releases up to seven new varieties a year. Its biotechnology lab is working to halve seed development time, and the company has even expanded into livestock breed development, charging a team of breeders, veterinary staff and nutritionists with boosting the meat and milk yields of Bangladeshi cows.
Director of operations Tajwar Awal credits the company’s reach in part to early on-the-ground marketing campaigns, which saw teams sent out across the country, sometimes trekking for miles, boxes on heads, to reach remote villages. Once there, they would stay for days, ensuring everything from seed transplantation to irrigation was handled correctly. Some farmers were invited to the capital for training in agronomy and horticulture.
“From there it was a slow build that grew and grew and grew to a point where farmers were vocalising for us, also teaching other farmers,” said Awal.
By developing high-yielding seeds suitable for shifting climate conditions, Lal Teer hopes to help farmers in Bangladesh feed the country’s 165 million people – while also increasing their income.
When her husband was paralysed by a stroke, Shirina Begum faced a bleak future: a sick partner to care for, a family to feed, and no regular income. But once she started planting seeds for vegetables on her small plot of land, everything changed.
Jump forward five years, and Begum’s bumper crops of aborigine, bitter gourd and more are bringing in enough money that she can even put her daughter through college – she hopes she’ll be a doctor.
It’s an impressive turnaround, and one that reflects a seismic shift in Bangladesh’s seed sector over the past two decades. For Begum, the game-changer was access to vegetable seeds produced by Lal Teer Seed, the country’s largest private seed company, which was only able to enter the market after reforms in the 1990s ended the public sector stranglehold.
“Before using Lal Teer’s seeds, I couldn’t cover our costs,” says Begum. “But now I am getting more harvests, my income is increasing, and my family’s lives are more comfortable.”
By developing high-yielding seeds suited to shifting climatic conditions, and distributing these up and down Bangladesh, Lal Teer is intent on changing the narrative. “We have limited land. We have to produce more is the simple answer,” says Lal Teer’s managing director, Mahbub Anam.
Lal Teer joined Business Call to Action in 2016 with a promise to provide 30 percent of the quality seeds needed to secure Bangladesh’s food supply by 2020. Now, it sells more than 130 varieties of 33 different vegetables to approximately 17 million customers, and releases up to seven new varieties a year. Its biotechnology lab is working to halve seed development time, and the company has even expanded into livestock breed development, charging a team of breeders, veterinary staff and nutritionists with boosting the meat and milk yields of Bangladeshi cows.
Director of operations Tajwar Awal credits the company’s reach in part to early on-the-ground marketing campaigns, which saw teams sent out across the country, sometimes trekking for miles, boxes on heads, to reach remote villages. Once there, they would stay for days, ensuring everything from seed transplantation to irrigation was handled correctly. Some farmers were invited to the capital for training in agronomy and horticulture.
“From there it was a slow build that grew and grew and grew to a point where farmers were vocalising for us, also teaching other farmers,” said Awal.
