Economic Reporter :
The government will distribute agricultural inputs for free to 4,58,226 small and marginal farmers for cultivation of summer season Aus crop that begins next month.
Agriculture Minister Dr M Abdur Razzak announced the launching of the countrywide agriculture incentive programme at a press conference at the ministry’s conference room on Thursday.
The government will give free paddy seed and chemical fertilizers worth Taka 40.18 crore for implementation of the programme, he said.
Under the programme, each farmer will get 5-kg paddy seed, 10-kg Muriate of Potash (MoP) and 15-kg di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) worth Taka 875 for cultivating aus on one bigha of land.
“The incentive programme will encourage the farmers …increase the arable area and also raise the earning of the farmers as a whole,” said the minister.
At present, the government has set a target to cultivate aus on 13,65,412 hectares of land, while 61,354 hectares of land has come under the incentive programme.
The incentive programme will help the farmers produce nearly 1.56 lakh tonnes of rice and 2.46 lakh tonnes of straw valued at Taka 603.54 crore.
Agriculture secretary M Nasiruzzaman and high officials were present at the press conference.
