UNB, Dhaka :
Smallholding farmers in some southern districts now can buy agricultural inputs in time and use those in their croplands for better production, thanks to a new type of smart debit card.
The card is now being used an alternative to hard cash for farmers in two upazilas of Faridpur and other southern districts to ensure timely supply of the agricultural inputs. According to sources in the banking and NGO sectors, the smallholding farmers are getting credit facilities from Bank Asia at a 10 percent interest rate with a six-month flexible repayment time through its agent banking outfits. The new smart debit card is named A-Card.
This A-Card credit facility ensures the access of farmers to formal banking services while reducing their dependence on microcredit of NGOs who usually charge around 25 percent interest on a loan with strict weekly repayment obligation. But the A-Card users do not have such weekly payment obligation. Farmers can repay the loan any day before the expiry of the six-month tenure, said an official of USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) project, which has designed and introduced the smart card for farmers through Bank Asia. Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) in partnership with some other agencies, including CARE and mPower, is implementing the AESA project to provide training to farmers to get better farming techniques.
Under a multiparty contract, Bank Asia launched the A-Card primarily for the beneficiary members of AESA project on a pilot basis in association with local microfinance institutions (MFIs) and mStar-FHI360 project.
Some 500 farmers are using A-Cards under which they get a loan of Tk 10,000-Tk 20,000 for six months. This amount remains deposited with the cardholder’s account which he or she can use anytime to purchase seeds, fertiliser, pesticides and other necessary inputs from outlets of reputed companies.
Rubia Begun, a smallholding female farmer in Faridpur Sardar upazila who received an A-Card, said she is being benefited greatly by using the card as she could purchase seeds, fertiliser, pesticides and other inputs for her cropland in time.
Smallholding farmers in some southern districts now can buy agricultural inputs in time and use those in their croplands for better production, thanks to a new type of smart debit card.
The card is now being used an alternative to hard cash for farmers in two upazilas of Faridpur and other southern districts to ensure timely supply of the agricultural inputs. According to sources in the banking and NGO sectors, the smallholding farmers are getting credit facilities from Bank Asia at a 10 percent interest rate with a six-month flexible repayment time through its agent banking outfits. The new smart debit card is named A-Card.
This A-Card credit facility ensures the access of farmers to formal banking services while reducing their dependence on microcredit of NGOs who usually charge around 25 percent interest on a loan with strict weekly repayment obligation. But the A-Card users do not have such weekly payment obligation. Farmers can repay the loan any day before the expiry of the six-month tenure, said an official of USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) project, which has designed and introduced the smart card for farmers through Bank Asia. Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) in partnership with some other agencies, including CARE and mPower, is implementing the AESA project to provide training to farmers to get better farming techniques.
Under a multiparty contract, Bank Asia launched the A-Card primarily for the beneficiary members of AESA project on a pilot basis in association with local microfinance institutions (MFIs) and mStar-FHI360 project.
Some 500 farmers are using A-Cards under which they get a loan of Tk 10,000-Tk 20,000 for six months. This amount remains deposited with the cardholder’s account which he or she can use anytime to purchase seeds, fertiliser, pesticides and other necessary inputs from outlets of reputed companies.
Rubia Begun, a smallholding female farmer in Faridpur Sardar upazila who received an A-Card, said she is being benefited greatly by using the card as she could purchase seeds, fertiliser, pesticides and other inputs for her cropland in time.
