The agriculture-based foundry and light engineering industry of Bogura is all set to face any challenge that may arise amid the fourth industrial revolution, according to market players.

The district's foundry and light engineering units, which help meet 70 per cent of the country's demand for agricultural machinery and spare parts, had long been missing modern technology.

Now though, manufacturers have installed the latest equipment to ensure that their products can compete with foreign alternatives.

There are 10 foundries, 800 manufacturing facilities and 745 workshops that produce agricultural machinery inside an estate of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation in Bogura.

Meanwhile, there are another 60 foundries and 1,000 light engineering units in other places of the district, said Razedur Rahman Raju, secretary of the Bangladesh Agricultural Machinery Merchant Association's Bogura unit.

According to data from the Bogura Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the district's light engineering and foundry industry has been exporting finished products worth around Tk 300 annually for the last five years.

Abdul Malek Akanda, owner of Al-Madina Metal Works and president of the Foundry Owners' Association of Bangladesh, said he installed modern induction furnaces and computerised numerical control machines at his unit for Tk 6 crore during this period.

"We installed the new equipment to produce quality products and thereby retain our markets. Or else, we are going to lose our business to Chinese products," he added.

Malek went on to say that three foundries in Bogura received certification from the International Organization for Standardization about a month ago.

Rezaul Karim, owner of Reza Engineering and Metals, said they would previously produce just 70 types of agricultural machinery, including centrifugal pumps and threshers.

"But now we can produce around 200 types of products to compete with Chinese and Japanese agricultural machinery makers," he added.

Karim went on to say they plan to start manufacturing small vehicles such as mini trucks within a year.

"We lacked training and technological support but a foreign research institute, called the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center [CIMMYT], has been inspiring us to modernise our equipment since last year," he said.

Asked how workers will be able to adapt to the new technology, Karim said more support is required in this regard as they are given just 15 days training after the equipment is purchased.

He then informed that the CIMMYT has already arranged a three-month training programme to this end in Dhaka with help of the Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Center.

PVL Bharathi, lead training coordinator of the CIMMYT, said the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia - Mechanization and Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA) being funded by USAID is facilitating the development of agriculture-based light engineering small-and-medium enterprises.

The initiative aims to provide the necessary skills to manufacture quality and competitively priced agricultural machinery and spare parts.

"It also recognises that the scope for women to be engaged in the sector has not been explored thoroughly," Bharathi added.

The CIMMYT lead training coordinator then said the owners of various enterprises were interviewed under the initiative in order to identify the potential of women as skilled or semi-skilled workers in their industries.

"Some 228 women workers in Bogura were trained to improve their career prospects in the past two years, taking the total number to undergo such programmes up to 840 so far," Bharathi added.

AKM Mahfuzur Rahman, acting superintendent of the Bogura BSCIC industrial area, said the CIMMYT is providing training to upskill foundry and light engineering workers in the district.

The agriculture-based foundry and light engineering industry of Bogura began its journey in the 1960s and now produces more than 3,000 types of products worth of Tk 500 crore each year.

The industry employs around 15,000 people, of which 25 per cent are women, according to factory owners.