Welcoming the government's announcement of Tk 5,000cr stimulus package for agriculture sector, Dr. Selim Raihan, Executive Director of SANEM, suggested three steps for making effective use of this stimulus package
Mentioning that, as the domestic supply chain of agricultural materials has collapsed, the current crisis in the agricultural sector cannot be solved by just giving loans to farmers, he said It is necessary to take measures on how to re-initiate the supply-chain of agricultural materials at the field level, in compliance with the health regulations.
In this case, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of the Home Affairs must work jointly with the local administration and businessmen.
“One immediate crisis is related to the production of Boro paddy. Agricultural workers, who travel from different parts of the Northern region to work during the Boro paddy cultivation across the country, are unable to travel during this crisis time. Due to this, critical shortage of agricultural workers is occurring in different places of the country.
A similar crisis is seen in summer fruit cultivation”, he said, adding that the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Transport and Home need to work jointly with the local administration to ensure safe passage for agricultural workers, in compliance with health regulations in this regard.
He finally requested the government to rethink about the 5% interest rate. At this particular crisis, my recommendation is to go for interest-free loans under this particular stimulus package.
It is important to remember that in the coming days, food security will be a major challenge for the vast number of population. For this, the highest importance should be given to the agricultural sector and every effort should be made to ensure that agricultural production is not disrupted, he added.
