Farmers to get cash booster to buy agri-equipment

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FHM Humayan Kabir
The government would provide Tk 1.20 billion in cash incentives to the farmers for procuring farm machinery in order to reduce post-harvest losses of crops, estimated at 14 per cent of total production, officials said Thursday.
Agriculture ministry officials said the small and medium farmers in 237 selected upazilas across the country would be provided with cash incentives for purchasing modern technology, to be used in their crop cultivation and harvesting periods.
"It is possible to cut the post-harvest losses by 9 per cent from the existing 14 per cent, accounting for 2.5 to 3.5 million tonnes of food grains of the total production annually," an agriculture ministry official told the FE.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) under the ministry has taken the move to disburse the subsidy among the farmers under a scheme titled "Enhancement of crop production through farm mechanisation".
The Prime Minister has appreciated the Tk 1.49 billion project and it was approved by the executive committee of the national economic council (ECNEC) Thursday.
The DAE will provide the fiscal booster to farmers in 237 upazilas over a three-year period from January 2010 to purchase farming tools like reaper, combined harvester and power thrasher.
The scheme would be expanded gradually to all the remaining upazilas across the country, the agriculture ministry official said.
Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, has 2.2 million people added to its food consumers every year.
"Since the 2.2 million new food consumers are being added every year to the country's population, it has no options but to boost its crop production in the limited lands through applying modern technology and equipment," the official said.
Making the situation worse, livestock utilisation and labour employment in farming are reducing sharply, which has prompted the government to popularise the use of modern technology in crop production, he said.
The official said the scheme would not only help boost crop production, it would also develop local entrepreneurship, farm technology industry and expertise in the country.
Under the Tk 1.49 billion project, the DAE will also train farmers, agriculture extension workers, technical staff of the government and local manufacturers in the field of modern farming equipment.
The government now provides cash incentives to farmers to purchase fertiliser, diesel etc aimed at encouraging them to increase crop production.