JS News in Brief

Tk 57.5 m allocated for increasing agri input cards

Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury said Thursday the government has allocated Tk 57.5 million to increase agricultural input assistance cards for farmers to 23 million across the country. "The distribution of agricultural input assistance cards to farmers is going on, and so far 1,44,87,137 cards have been distributed among the farmers," she said while replying to a question from treasury bench member Mahfuzur Rahman in parliament.     — BSS

98,54,606 farmers open bank accounts

The minister said some 98,54,606 farmers opened bank accounts with Tk 10 at the state-run commercial and specialised banks aimed at getting hassle-free services. Besides, she said, the government has allocated Tk 306.8 million in 2014-2015 fiscal year against the programme for free distribution of seeds and fertilisers among marginal and small farmers. "The government has already distributed seeds and fertilisers to 2,44,600 small and marginal farmers," Matia added. She informed the House that the government provided over Tk 8 9.67 billion  as subsidy on fertiliser and electricity bill for the irrigation until June from January 5, 2014.     — BSS