3.e) Other activities

Apart from this basic "Comilla Approach" to rural development, the Academy has developed, in the course of time, some important concepts which, after having undergone trials in the Academy's experimental area, have been taken over by the Government and implemented in the whole country or East Pakistan respectively. The Rural Works Programme designed to provide work and income to landless people or small peasants by improving the infrastructure is one example. In recent years, the Thana Irrigation Programme, which supplies Irrigation facilities to peasants, gained more and more importance. Its special feature is the winter irrigation, i.e., irrigation during the period in which there are no floods. The Academy also conducts research an the suitability of different varieties of rice and other crops under local conditions, an fertilizer use, etc. Special programmes an birth control, a youth programme, a Women's programme and a programme to involve the Imams in developmental activities have been set up. In order to improve the marketing and processing conditions, a rice mill and a creamery have been built.