ACI & WorldFish Partnered for Rupali-ACI’s Advisory Platform for Small Holder Fish Farmers

Following the spectacular success of Fosholi-ACI’s advisory platform for smallholder rice farmers, IDSS team is very pleased to announce that it has hosted the signing ceremony for its next advisory platform- Rupali. The signing ceremony between ACI and WorldFish, a global nonprofit research organization working on improving fisheries and aquaculture in order to alleviate poverty and hunger, took place at ACI Center in the capital’s Tejgaon area on 22 November 2018. In presence of Mr. Abu Sayed Md. Rashedul Haque, Director General, Department of Fisheries, Bangladesh, the agreement was signed between Dr. F. H. Ansarey, Managing Director & CEO, ACI Agribusiness and Mr. Malcolm Dixon, Country Director, WorldFish. Other guests who were present are Mr. Zillur Rahman, Additional Director, Department of Fisheries, Mr. Pradip Kar Chowdhury, Executive Director, Finance & Planning, ACI Ltd, Mr. Shamim Murad, Team Leader, IDSS Project, ACI Agribusiness & Mr. Shaheen Shah, Business Director, Animal Health, ACI Agribusiness. The move to create a digital platform to provide advisory services for the country’s smallholder fishermen is a testament to ACI’s relentless efforts to create wealth for farmers in Bangladesh. Fish farming is a crucial facet of Bangladesh’s economy and it largely determines food security. During the event, the guests spoke on the current state of the fisheries industry, its role in food security & its export potential, the potential impact of Rupali and the role of ACI in spearheading initiatives relating to agriculture and aquaculture. Mr. Shamim Murad, through a fantastic presentation, laid out the details of the project. ACI and WorldFish will jointly develop the Rupali platform which will provide comprehensive and end to end aquaculture solutions to fish farmers. It will also be helpful to retailers and dealers of feed, aqua chemicals and pond mechanization equipment, hatchery owners, fish wholesalers, officials and researchers of government and non-government extension services. Rupali will go live from the 2nd half of 2019. The project will be implemented by ACI; World Fish will provide project management, monitoring, evaluation as well as transfer aquaculture related global best practices. ACI and USAID will co-finance the project. IDSS team thanked its visionary leader, Dr. Arif Dowla, Managing Director, ACI Ltd., Dr. F H Ansary, MD & CEO, ACI Agribusiness, other colleagues and all the well-wishers for their relentless support and guidance in establishing digital platforms for the agricultural community.