Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced incentives of Taka 5 thousand crore in five percent interest in the agriculture sector to face the on going corona situation.
She said Bangladesh Bank would set up a full funding scheme of Taka 5 thousand crore to provide capital to the agricultural sector. In the agricultural sector alone, we will form a scheme of Taka 5 thousand crore. The customer's interest rate for this scheme will be 5 percent.
She said this in a video conference on the coronavirus situation from her official residence Ganabhaban at 10 am on Sunday (April 12). During the video conference Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spoke to the public representatives of the districts of Barisal and Khulna divisions.
She said that in our country we are always ready to help people from the peasantry class, day laborers, blacksmiths, potters, weavers, fishermen and all classes of people. Bangladesh is an agricultural country so we need to continue enrichment of this sector. Food is the most important ingredient of people and so food safety must be ensured. So we have taken special initiatives for this sector.
Sheikh Hasina said boro paddy will be harvested within a few days. With the aim of ensuring that farmers should get fair prices. The Ministry of Food will buy more rice-paddy than last year. They will buy more than two lakh metric tonnes of rice. The Agriculture Ministry has been allotted Taka 1 hundred crore for mechanization of paddy harvesting process. And I will allot more Taka one hundred crore Agriculture Ministry.
She also said that I would allocate Taka 150 crore for the affected farmers for seed and sapling production so that you can continue your agricultural work. With regard to fertilizer subsidy, we have allocated Taka 9 thousand crore for the next fiscal year.
Sheikh Hasina said if someone produces something spicy, Bangladesh Bank gives loan at 4 percent interest. We have implemented it in the past; it is still continuing and will continue. So that no one gets suffered. The agricultural sector means the small and medium farmers of the rural areas which include people engaged in agriculture, flower production, fruit production, fisheries, dairy and poultry will get incentives of Taka 5 thousand crore.