The seven-day training initiative, a collaborative effort between the agricultural department and the ADB, commenced at a workshop titled “The Use of Drone and Satellite Image for Crop Monitoring and Crop Damage Assessment” held on Wednesday at the Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka. The workshop was inaugurated by Malay Choudhury, additional secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Edimon Ginting, the country director for the Asian Development Bank.

Funding for the training program was provided by the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific, facilitated by the Japanese government. Notably, geospatial experts from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics will oversee the training, according to an ADB press release.

The training curriculum comprises four days of classroom sessions focusing on geographical information systems and remote sensing analysis for detecting crop damage, followed by a three-day field trip to Sylhet to impart knowledge on ground data collection using mobile devices. The Sylhet region witnessed significant crop damage during a series of floods in 2022.

During the workshop, Edimon Ginting, ADB’s Country Director, emphasized the importance of accurate crop disease and loss assessment in implementing suitable measures to safeguard agricultural productivity and food security, particularly in the face of escalating climate threats in Bangladesh. He reiterated ADB’s commitment to introducing innovative solutions, including advanced technologies, to address climate impacts in Bangladesh.

Badal Chandra Biswas, Director General of the Department of Agricultural Extension, underscored the significance of advanced geospatial technology in enabling agriculture officers to evaluate crop damage and launch effective government initiatives to mitigate anticipated climate change-induced damage.

Post-training, collaborative efforts are underway to compile joint reports on crop damage assessment in the Sylhet region, conduct an evaluation study of an ADB-supported integrated water management project in Gopalganj, and execute a nationwide climate disaster assessment in a local government unit, as per a media release.