The government is set to honour 25 farmers with 'Agriculturally Important Person (AIP)' status for their outstanding contributions to the country's agricultural sector in 2021.
The AIP status was introduced in 2020 and is similar in status to the Commercially Important Person (CIP) ranking.
A selection committee has picked up the AIPs for the 2021 calendar year based on their significant role in the country's overall agriculture sector.
The agriculture ministry has already sent the list to the cabinet division for final approval.
A senior official of the agriculture ministry said that a good number of applications were received from interested people. After scrutiny, 25 of the applications were selected for AIP status.
The home ministry and the Bangladesh Bank also scrutinised the selected applications.
The state honour and other facilities for AIP farmers is similar in status to the CIP award. However, CIP holders are not eligible for AIP status.
A source said the agriculture ministry is set to honour the 25 farmers as AIPs as soon as possible.
The selection committee has selected the AIPs as per the AIP Policy-2019.
The award will be given in five categories: Agricultural Production/Commercial Farming and Agricultural Processing Industries; Production of Exportable Agricultural items, Agricultural Innovations on Technology or Breed and Bangabandhu Gold Agriculture Award recipient.
For the first time, the government honoured 13 farmers with AIP status for their outstanding contributions in 2020.
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