The country’s commercial banks have distributed Tk35,000 crore for loans to farmers in the current fiscal year 2023-24 to boost agricultural production.
Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor AKM Sajedur Rahman Khan announced the news -Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy and Programme on Sunday.
Director of Agricultural Credit Department, KanizFatema, Director Dr DebasishSarker, Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors of various commercial banks were present on the occasion.
According to the information of the Central Bank, the annual target of distribution of agricultural and rural loans of Bangladesh Bank in the current financial year 2023-2024 has been fixed at Tk 35,000 crore, which is 13.60 percent more than last fiscal year. In the last fiscal year, the agricultural loan target was Tk 30,811 crore.
Considering the demand for agricultural and rural loans, the state-owned commercial and specialised banks have set a target of Tk 12,030 crore, private banks Tk 21,923 crore and foreign commercial banks Tk 1,047crore in the current fiscal year.
In the last fiscal year 2022-23, banks disbursed a total of Tk 32,830 crore in agricultural and rural loans, which is 106.55 percent of the total target for the financial year.
According to Bangladesh Bank, a total of 33,04,811 people got agricultural and rural loans in the last fiscal year. Of these, 3,618,545 loans were available through banks' own networks and MFI linkages. As many as 18,81,933 women have received agricultural and rural loans worth Tk12,752 crore.
Besides, 27,36,087 small and marginal farmers received Tk 22,402 crore from various banks and 3,449 farmers from char, haor and other backward areas received Tk 18 crore in the last fiscal year.
In light of evolving global conditions and the imperative of food security, banks are mandated to prioritise lending to the agricultural sector.
Beyond the target of commercial banks, Bangladesh Samabaya Bank Limited and Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) set a target of Tk 26 crore and Tk 1,423 crore from their own financing respectively.
Banks will be able to use their own network (branches, sub-branches,agent banking, contract farming, group loan disbursement) and bank-MFI linkages to achieve the target of disbursement of loans.
In this case, the amount of loan disbursed through the bank's own network should be at least 50 percent of the target which was previously 30 percent.
Under the Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy and Programme, loans will have to be disbursed to new farmers on priority basis. The maximum limit for loans for income-generating activities in rural areas will be Tk5 lakh.
In the fisheries sector, a minimum of 13 percent of the target, and in the livestock sector, a minimum of 15 percent of the target have to be disbursed.
