Economic Reporter :
Agriculture Minister Dr Md Abdur Razzaque said that the government is working to provide loans on easy terms to farmers to purchase agricultural machinery easily.
He said this on Thursday during a meeting with the stakeholders regarding the mechanisation of Bangladesh’s agriculture sector. The minister joined the online meeting from the ministry’s conference room.
“The government is providing agricultural machinery to the farmers with 50% – 70% subsidies. But even with that, farmers have to pay Tk10-15 lakhs to buy a combined harvester, which most farmers cannot afford. And, the situation is similar in case of buying other tools as well,” said Razzaque.
To make the process easier, the government is taking initiatives so that farmers can take loans on easy terms to buy necessary machines, he added.
The minister said that the ministry is working so that the agricultural machines can be manufactured locally.
“Currently, we have to import most of the machines from abroad and we want to reduce this import-dependency. We are also focusing on building factories to make the spare parts locally and planning to introduce repairment workshops so that we can increase employment opportunities for the people in the country,” he added.
Currently, the Government of Bangladesh is implementing a Tk3,020 crore project to mechanise the country’s agriculture sector, aiming to modernise the sector and make it more profitable.
