Agriculture: The Economic engine of Bangladesh

Easing farmer’s journey

Government has provided all possible support to the farmers to sustain their achievements in the agriculture sector. Awami League has introduced agricultural input assistance card which has been praised highly both at home and abroad. 24,000 crore financial assistance in agriculture was provided by AL government. 144 crore agriculture input assistance card was distributed among needy farmers. In 35 districts, government has arranged to supply tractors, power tillers, harvesters and other agricultural equipment at 25 percent subsidized prices. Government provided a total of around Tk. 23,000 crore as agriculture subsidy for the development of agriculture sector in the past four fiscal years.

Under the agriculture rehabilitation program, government continued to supply seeds and fertilizers to the farmers free of cost. As part of this program, Awami League led government has distributed free seeds and fertilizers to as many as 3,32,500 farmers in Financial Year 2012-13 at the cost of Tk. 43 crore. Fertilized price was reduced in 3 occasions in the tenure of this government. MOP fertilizer is available in tk 15 in 2012 against tk 70 in 2006. TSP fertilizer price reduced to tk 22 in 2012 from tk 80 in 2006. DAP fertilizer is also available in tk 27 in 2012 than tk 90 in 2006.

Besides keeping the price of fertilizer within the farmers’ reach, Awami League Government has put special emphasis on ensuring balanced use of fertilizer. In order to maintain soil quality, AL has taken various steps to increase production of organic fertilizer in addition to the inorganic one.
For this purpose, in the past years, government has set up 18 lakh compost pile annually in the homestead of farmers.

Unveiling a new era

Awami League government has made it possible to introduce digital facilities for farmers. Now Farmer’s can open bank account only at 10 Taka. In Amtoli coastal area government has established a community rural radio center to serve different agriculture related queries. 10 ICT labs have been introduced. 15 multimedia e-books have been prepared for farmers. Government has introduced krishi call centers where around 40 thousand farmers have used services so far. More than 70 thousand farmers are receiving agriculture related information through SMS service. Agriculture based bangla website has been launched in the tenure of this government.

A self-sufficient nation

Awami League government has dedicated all possible efforts to meet the increasing demand of food by emphasizing on national demand. In 2008-2009 financial year 39% of national demand was met with the help of numerous government initiatives. Again In 2012-2013 the number increased into 59%. Record 3, 72, 66,000 metric tons of rice production and no rice import needed in last two years. 45,722 crore taka agriculture loans were dispensed to farmers. Tk 32 thousand 150 crore 86 lakh has been spent for fertilizer, electricity etc. subsidy in agriculture mechanization tk 163 crore 41 lakh has been spent till 2013. 5 years back 40 metric tons of deficit 5 years of in this governments’ tenure, self sufficiency in food. Total 5 lakh 96 thousand metric ton yields & tk 275 crore were disbursed by the government. The very first time in country’s history with the blessing of agricultural development highly productive hybrid rice seeds and vegetable seeds are being exported globally. Food reserve increased to 20 lakh tons in 2013 from 13 lakh tons in 2008. Government has also been successful in forming and implementing a revolutionized food policy in Bangladesh.