Research suggests autonomy could boost Bangladesh's rural economy

Small autonomous machines could help Bangladesh’s smallholder farmers boost rural productivity – according to research from a Harper Adams University academic.

The research by Professor James Lowenberg-DeBoer, Elizabeth Creak Chair of Agri-tech Applied Economics at Harper Adams University, and Harper Adams alumnus and former PhD scholar, AKM Abdullah Al-Amin - now Associate Professor at Bangladesh Agricultural University – was unveiled earlier this week.

It was set out at the Appropriate Mechanization in Bangladesh for Sustainable Smallholders' Arable Crops Farming: From Local Adaptation to Scaling Up seminar in the country’s capital city, Dhaka.

In their research, the academics examine how such machines could be used by the country’s smallholders.

Similarly to other research at Harper Adams on the University’s Hands Free Farm, the researchers suggest small autonomous machines can deliver strong economic returns within just a few cropping seasons if properly adapted to local conditions.

They also note that labour shortages may make the use of such machines less a luxury than a necessity – and that their introduction could prove transformative for both the smallholders and for Bangladesh’s rural productivity.

However, for the new machines to succeed, the researchers recommended training and education among farmers would be crucial – and they called for the new technologies to include both rural women and young people to widen their appeal.

Read more about the seminar – and the research - in Bangladesh’s national Daily Star newspaper here.