Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said the government has decided to spend Tk 42.9 crore on its agriculture rehabilitation and incentive programme in the upcoming Robi season to recoup the losses the farmers suffered by the recent floods. Matia made the disclosure at a press briefing at the Secretariat on Wednesday. The minister said about 7.50 lakh hectares of land, including aman seedbeds vegetables and other crop lands, were submerged while 1.58 lakh crop lands were damaged due to the floods in 16 district-
Kurigram, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Rangpur, Bogra, Sunamganj, Sirajganj, Jamalpur, Tangail, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, Manikganj, Shariatpur and Munshiganj. Under the rehabilitation programme, the government will spend Tk 53.74 lakh for seed supply free of cost.
Besides, the government will distribute paddy seedbeds of ‘Nabi’ variety among the affected farmers through Department of Agriculture (DAE), Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC), Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) and BRI under the rehabilitation programme, said Matia.
The government has taken an initiative to distribute seeds of spinach, vegetables free of cost for meeting the nutrition demand of the farmers’ families, she said. Once the programme is implemented, a total of 17,211 farmers will be benefited, she added. Matia said the government will spend Tk 41.56 crore under the incentive programme on supplying free seeds and fertilizers for 4.1 lakh farmers. The aim of this incentive programme is to motivate the farmers for cultivating developed and new varieties of corps, she said.
