A decision support system to assist the rural poor in Bangladesh [Commentary]

Agriculture is Bangladesh´s most important sector for sustaining growth and reducing poverty. However, a lack of adequate nutrient supply, the depletion of organic matter in soils, and soil erosion are major obstacles to sustainable improvements in agricultural production. Katalyst initiated and supported a process where SRDI would collaborate with a Bangladeshi software developer to design a computerized decision support system able to undertake the calculation for providing localized fertilizer recommendations for individual farmers. Katalyst funded the development of this software (although SRDI would own the application). Katalyst also paid for the digitization of the supporting information tables initially for 30 upazilas, selected as pilots for the program, although this has now been extended to effectively all of upazilas in Bangladesh. SRDI, with funding from Katalyst, contracted out the development of the Fertilizer Recommendation Software (FRS) database.