No private sector involvement in OMS of fertiliser: Aziz
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
FE Report
Finance and Planning Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said Monday open market sale of fertiliser through private sector instead of public sector will not be possible for the reason of proper utilisation of subsidy and control of cross-border smuggling.
"If we allow the open market sale through the private sector, the farmers will not get benefit of subsidy and the fertiliser will be smuggled to neighbouring countries for higher price there," he said in response to a proposal at a discussion.
The discussion meeting was organised on agriculture budget at ERD conference room in the city by private television channel, Channel-i. Shykh Siraj, director of the Impress Telefilm Ltd, and presenter and director of the "Hridaye Mati O Manush" TV programme, made a set of proposals on agricultural development to the finance adviser at the meeting.
Moderated by Siraj, the function was attended among others by agriculture adviser, CS Karim, power and energy adviser Tapan Chowdhury, high officials of different ministries, economists, private sector development workers and farmers from some districts.
Mirza Azizul Islam said that the farmers' association could play vital role for the agricultural development in the country.
Speaking about the formation of such association, he expressed his doubt that such a body might not operate independently and chances would be there for politicisation.
On benefit of subsidy, the finance adviser said: "Although the finance ministry allocates subsidy, the line ministries are responsible to monitor their proper utilisation."
"But as the finance ministry allocates money, it also has a responsibility to monitor the utilisation of funds. Therefore, the finance ministry has allocated some funds to different ministries and the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) so that it can monitor and ensure proper utilisation of the funds," he said.
Besides, the government will also review the fund utilisation of the ministries under the Mid-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) regularly, he added.
CS Karim indicated that present mechanism on supply of urea fertiliser would be changed to some extant so that the farmer could get it adequately in time.
He underlined the need for implementation of research works on the country's agricultural sector saying that a lot of research had already been done on its development.
The discussants at the programme gave a set of suggestions that include a rise in budget allocation for agricultural sector, hybrid rice production, farm credit at easy term, extensive research and introduction of modern technology in farming.
Finance and Planning Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said Monday open market sale of fertiliser through private sector instead of public sector will not be possible for the reason of proper utilisation of subsidy and control of cross-border smuggling.
"If we allow the open market sale through the private sector, the farmers will not get benefit of subsidy and the fertiliser will be smuggled to neighbouring countries for higher price there," he said in response to a proposal at a discussion.
The discussion meeting was organised on agriculture budget at ERD conference room in the city by private television channel, Channel-i. Shykh Siraj, director of the Impress Telefilm Ltd, and presenter and director of the "Hridaye Mati O Manush" TV programme, made a set of proposals on agricultural development to the finance adviser at the meeting.
Moderated by Siraj, the function was attended among others by agriculture adviser, CS Karim, power and energy adviser Tapan Chowdhury, high officials of different ministries, economists, private sector development workers and farmers from some districts.
Mirza Azizul Islam said that the farmers' association could play vital role for the agricultural development in the country.
Speaking about the formation of such association, he expressed his doubt that such a body might not operate independently and chances would be there for politicisation.
On benefit of subsidy, the finance adviser said: "Although the finance ministry allocates subsidy, the line ministries are responsible to monitor their proper utilisation."
"But as the finance ministry allocates money, it also has a responsibility to monitor the utilisation of funds. Therefore, the finance ministry has allocated some funds to different ministries and the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) so that it can monitor and ensure proper utilisation of the funds," he said.
Besides, the government will also review the fund utilisation of the ministries under the Mid-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF) regularly, he added.
CS Karim indicated that present mechanism on supply of urea fertiliser would be changed to some extant so that the farmer could get it adequately in time.
He underlined the need for implementation of research works on the country's agricultural sector saying that a lot of research had already been done on its development.
The discussants at the programme gave a set of suggestions that include a rise in budget allocation for agricultural sector, hybrid rice production, farm credit at easy term, extensive research and introduction of modern technology in farming.