A top economic relations official has placed importance on engaging poor and marginal farmers in the market value chain through commercial agriculture.
"We're more or less becoming a market-based economy. But the economy will only be productive if poor farmers can be engaged in mainstream economic activities," senior secretary of the economic relations division Mohammad Mejbahuddin said.
He also said commercial agriculture, specially developing a vibrant market value chain for the farmers, can bring about qualitative change in the economy benefitting the poor.
He was speaking at the launch of the promoting agricultural commercialisation and enterprises (PACE) project in the city, organised by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation.
PKSF, the fund provider to the micro-lenders, in collaboration with the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is implementing the six-year project involving Tk $92.8 million.
IFAD will provide $20 million as grant and $20 million in loan for the project. PKSF and its partner organisations (POs) will bear the rest and $0.36 million will be offered as grant by the South Korean government, the participating orgnisations said.
While speaking as the chief guest, state minister for finance and planning Md M A Mannan said the basic job of a government is to give protection to its citizens.
He urged the PKSF and its partner NGOs to help government to prevent unlawful activities in the country in name of 'politics'.
Unless marginal people, especially poor farmers, are brought into the mainstream economy, the success of the economy will be meaningless, he said, adding that the PKSF is working toward the welfare of the grass-root people.
PKSF chairman Dr Kazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed while presiding over the programme said: "We've mystified the discourse of value chain by using it here and there."
He said value chain means ensuring supply of products and establishing a linkage between final consumers and the farmers.
Minimising the influence of middlemen or profiting all the sector players is an ideal value chain and the PACE project will exactly work for that, he said.
Vice-chancellor of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur A K M Nurun Nabi, PKSF managing director Md Abdul Karim, IFAD country programme officer Nicolas Syed spoke, among others.
Project coordinator of PACE Md Rafiqul Islam Akand presented a paper which focused magnetic parts of the project.
The paper revealed that PACE will give financial services to 0.7 million poor, ultra poor and non-poor micro-entrepreneurs involved in input selling, producing, trading or processing farm and non-farm products.
Around 0.35 million people will be also provided by non-financial services, the paper said.
The paper also said that the project will undertake value chain development projects (VCD) on various potential farm and non-farm sub-sectors.
According to the paper, PKSF implemented 44 VCDs on 22 sub-sectors in 21 districts by its 29 POs.
The PKSF will replicate and expand some of its most successful VCDs projects through PACE Project.
New VCD interventions on other sub-sectors will also be implemented, the paper said.
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