STORIES OF IMPACT IN AGRIBUSINESS* Improving Productivity in the Poultry Sector in Bangladesh IFC worked with Bangladeshi farmers to help them adopt clean energy technology that converts cow and chicken waste to biogas, which is then used to generate electricity. By using local clean energy, farmers save on energy costs and generate extra income from the sale of fertilizer and excess electricity. Simultaneously, IFC helped build the capacity RESULTS AND IMPACT of the local supply chain. • Trained over 15,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and poultry farmers. With IFC support, dozens of farmers were • Sold 11,367 Poultry Workbooks, good able to access bank financing to install small practice guides for SMEs and farmers to waste-to-energy plants on their farms, helping improve their productivity. to create a market for biogas equipment and • Facilitated $1.2 million in investment for generators. 16 poultry farms. • Installed waste to electricity plants at 250 poultry and dairy farms. • Generated over 6,700 MWh/year of electricity from waste to electricity plants. • More than 12,000 SMEs and farmers implemented recommendations received from IFC resulting in improved performance for 8,012 entities. • IFC client companies increased sales by $104 million. “IFC’s timely initiative helped us resolve energy access, bio- security, and waste management issues.” —Mujibur Rahman, Owner, Golden Poultry Farm, Ramu, Cox’s Bazar * This series provides examples of IFC’s impact, expertise and lessons learned working with clients and partners. The Opportunity More specifically, IFC developed and disseminated Poultry Workbooks—good practice guides for farmers In Bangladesh, the poultry sector employs over 5 million and SMEs, and conducted training sessions on farm people, making it the second largest source of rural jobs. management, disease and bio-security management. Despite continuous growth over the last decade, low IFC also organized events and demonstrations of productivity and poor waste management do not allow the biogas technology to illustrate the technical and the sector to reach its full potential. commercial feasibility of the biogas technology. Ninety-five percent of poultry farmers lack awareness In addition, IFC worked with market stakeholders to of farm management and struggle to survive and stay promote clean energy by introducing waste-to-energy profitable. Poultry farmers face two key problems in technologies. Bangladesh: the large amount of animal waste on their Overall, IFC helped build linkages between farmers, farms—about 4,500 million tons generated daily by SMEs, service and technology providers, and financial poultry farms—and the high cost of using diesel-based institutions. In particular, IFC works with: back-up power whenever their unreliable grid electricity failed. • Farmers, SMEs and energy providers to install small scale waste-to-energy generation plants. Although biogas could address both of these problems, • Service providers to develop capacity to tap the there were a few barriers to overcome first. For instance, upcoming market demand. there were few commercial suppliers of biogas equipment in Bangladesh for farm use. In addition, bankers were • Government, industry, NGOs and other stakeholders reluctant to provide lending to farmers interested in to create awareness and a business-enabling purchasing biogas waste-to-energy plants because their environment. commercial viability was untested in the local market. • Financial institutions to educate them on the financing of renewable energy projects. By catalyzing investment in this type of clean energy in IFC’s Approach Bangladesh, IFC helped create a market for the materials IFC helped identify biogas as a clean energy alternative needed to build the waste-to-energy plants. to the diesel fuel the farmers were previously using to IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest provide electricity on their farms, and provided technical global development institution focused exclusively on the expertise in building, operating and maintaining small- private sector. scale biogas energy plants. IFC also worked with farmers and SMEs to improve productivity through training and capacity building. IFC CLIENTs ????? ifc.org/agribusiness AskSustainability@ifc.org oct 2014