Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday said the government could reschedule the bank loans of the farmers affected during the political unrest from January to March this year.
He said this while replying to questions of the journalists at a pre-budget discussion on agriculture at the finance minister’s secretariat office in Dhaka.
The discussion was styled as “Krishi Budget, Krishoker Budget 2015-16” (Agriculture budget, farmers’ budget 2015-16).
Asked if the government would waive bank loans of the affected farmers, Muhith replied: “We have not yet decided that the bank loans will be waived. But they suffered losses due to the BNP-led alliance’s political programmes. However, we can reschedule their bank loans.”
Director and chief of news of Channel I, Shykh Seraj placed a set of 57 recommendations to finance minister on agricultural development for incorporating in the upcoming national budget.
Shykh Seraj said the farmers across the country have hugely suffered losses for mismanagement of the rural electrification board, which was found in a survey conducted in three districts- Panchagarh, Tangail and Khulna.
He said the survey also showed the farmers had failed to get actual prices for their produces in the turmoil-hit three months due to political turmoil and so the farmers demand waiving or rescheduling their bank loans.
Shykh Seraj said poultry and tea industries have already got destroyed because of various problems, including low prices of products of multinational companies, political turmoil and absence of smooth banking procedure to get loans.
He said the government has yet failed to provide information about the state facilities, including good seeds, soil test centre, bank loans and ICT facilities to farmers.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, however, rejected outright Shykh Seraj’s claim of the government’s failure in handling agricultural problems.