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Besides, he set aside Tk 200 crore as incentives for farm mechanisation.
“We’ve taken some important steps to maintain the growth in agriculture, and thus ensure food security for our people. Subsidy in the agriculture sector has been increased to Tk 9,500 crore,” the minister said while placing the proposed national budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021 in Parliament.
He said they have taken up a Tk 3,198 crore project to promote farm mechanization. “An allocation of Tk 5,000 for the Agriculture Refinancing Scheme will also be made through Bangladesh Bank in the next fiscal year.”
In addition, the minister said, they have raised the target for government procurement and distribution of rice and paddy by 2 lakh metric tons in FY 2020-21 to make sure that farmers get fair prices for their produces while the retail market price of rice remains stable.
Meanwhile, another refinancing scheme of Tk 3,000 crore has been announced for small income farmers and traders in the agriculture sector.
As in previous years, the minister said, the sales price for chemical fertilisers will be kept unchanged in the next fiscal year irrespective of their import costs, and they will continue to provide incentives to the agriculture sector.