Bangladesh is an agricultural country. Livelihoods of most of the people of Bangladesh are being maintained based on the agricultural activities directly and/or on agro-based business. People involved in agriculture have not sufficient money at their hands as well as savings in order to invest on agriculture for seasonal cultivation of crops and they have lack of capital for agro-based business. In view of minimizing the gap for capital and for keeping the agriciultural productions continued, DISA runs the Agriculture Sector Microfinance (ASM) program to provide loan in three sectors: a) agriculture loan b) Non-agriculture, and c) agriculture product purchase.
Bangladesh lies within the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta- the world‘s largest, most densely populated and one of the richest in aquatic resources. Expansion of dairy and meat production, processing, value addition, marketing and consumption can offer an important pathway to sustainable economic development and future poverty alleviation opportunities in Bangladesh. The Dairy and Livestock Development Project (DLDP) of DISA will stimulate the growth and enable a sustainable, inclusive and safe development of livestock value chains in Bangladesh. It will also address some upcoming issues of the livestock sector such as food safety, environmental pollution and climate change, and animal welfare. DISA supports marginalized farmers through funding, treatment and rearing local/hybrid cows and bulls under its livestock programme. Rearing cows have a tendency to selling milk at bulk quantity, keeping family consumption portion, early paying off the credit with interest, and getting cow as well as the calf(s) ownership as the assets for the household. Purchase and rear the young bulls, fattened them with appropriate care, so that bulls are sold at higher prices, particularly at the eve of Eid-ul-Adha Festival as a sacrificial animal. Bulls rearing in this way means earning a good amount of money, after paying back the credit amount with interest at one time. DISA provides loans to borrowers for purchasing the dairy cattle and keeps 5% as insurance premium which covers the sudden death of dairy cattle for up-to one year. Within a short period, the borrowers can easily repay the loan and become owners of cattle with calf(s) by selling milk. In these ways, they uplift their social status and lifestyle through cattle rearing. DLDP provides training and demonstration for knowledge dissemination, medical care, guidance for balanced feeding, day-to-day care, and insurance support.
Farmers Organization named Sadadal is a grass-root level livestock organization comprised with and for farmers. Sadadal organization is working at Chandina Upazila of Cumilla district. Each Sadadal is comprised with at least 20 members and having a leader.