The agriculture sector must get more attention, being one of the pillars of sustainable development, in the next budget to ensure constant, adequate food supply to the people during, and in the post-COVID pandemic situation, experts said.
Executive Director of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) Dr Selim Raihan told Bangladesh Post, “ In the next fiscal budget, agriculture should be given a higher importance than it is usually given in the budgets of the previous years”.
“One of the major reasons is that the current virus crisis could lead to a major food security crisis in the coming days. As a result, the government should attach the highest priority to the agriculture sector”, he added.
According to a World Food Program analysis, about 265 million people around the world are expected to face acute food insecurity this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The April analysis came just before this week’s World Hunger Day, an initiative of the New York-based Hunger Project. Hence, the government is increasing food stocks in its warehouses more than target.
At the same time, in the upcoming 2020-2021 fiscal budget, the government is allocating Tk 15453 crore for food and agriculture subsidies and incentives.
The allocation is Tk 2505 crore higher than that in the current budget, finance ministry sources confirmed.
It is to be noted, in this stranded economic situation caused by the lethal virus, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is going to propose a budget of Tk 580000 crore for the upcoming fiscal on June 11.
Finance ministry sources said that economic activities have come to a standstill due to the sudden impact of Covid- 19, this will take a very long time to become normal, as the impact will last for several years.
To overcome the impact and keep the economy active, the government is increasing subsidies and incentives.
Sources confirmed further that subsidies have especially increased in the agriculture and food sector.
In this regard, the SANEM executive director said, “The four percent interest rate on the stimulus package promised for farmers, should be reduced more. At the same time, it should be ensured that real farmers get the advantage of the stimulus package”.
He also suggested that “Effective initiatives need to be taken to quickly restore the market system of agriculture products and agriculture inputs which have now suffered a major setback, in compliance with hygiene norms”.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in its budget proposal has also stressed to increase allocation for agriculture in the next budget. In a virtual meeting recently, they had made such a demand.