Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque has said he is confident that the current scheme of incentives will be enough to help the agriculture sector get back on its fee, as long as there is not another bout of flooding to come this year.
With the worst flood in over two decades piling itself on top of the local outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is no exaggeration at present to say that some sectors of the Bangladesh economy are in need of serious emergency care.
None of the worst-hit sectors provides as significant a chunk of our population with their livelihoods (even as its share in total output keeps dwindling with the economy modernizing) nor exercises a greater, more direct influence on the national psyche as agriculture.
A June study by the Institute of Governance and Development Studies at Brac University stated: “Social distancing and lockdown measures to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak is having a negative impact on the agriculture sector of Bangladesh.”
Although these measures are no longer being mandated, the damage done from April to June is likely to have been very deep.
The agriculture minister said as for the floods, the damage to cropland alone has already exceeded Tk1,300 crore.
Asked about the extent of losses from the flood, Razzaque said: “Crops worth Tk1,323 crore got damaged in the 37 flood-hit districts. A total of 257,000 hectares of croplands were submerged in flood-water, causing losses to 1.272 million farmers.”
In the face of such an onslaught, the government was almost left with no option but to adopt an elaborate and extensive scheme of different incentives, to help the flood-affected farmers get back on their feet.
The initiatives
Razzaque said a total of 239,000 flood-hit farmers have already been provided with different agricultural products worth Tk17.54 crore.
Under the scheme, 152,000 farmers received seeds of different vegetables, including calabash, different varieties of spinach, barbati, bean, cucumber, worth Tk10.27 crore.
Besides, work is underway to grow and distribute Aman paddy seedlings for planting through a community-based seedbed at a cost of around Tk2.15 crore, floating beds at a cost of Tk70 lakh and rice transplanters at a cost of Tk61 lakh.
Seedbeds of Aman paddy are being prepared in 5,060 floating beds in 40 districts. This will directly benefit 1,265 farmers, Minister Razzaque said, adding that a total of 4,308 seedbeds have already been okayed and farmers are collecting seedlings from the beds.
He further said work is underway to grow Aman paddy seedlings for planting through rice transplanters at a cost of Tk61 lakh.
Under this, aman paddy seedlings will be grown in 41,600 trays in 25 districts and be distributed among 1,600 farmers. Seedbeds have already been set up in 22,072 trays and the farmers are taking seedlings from those seedbeds, he added.
The government has an alternative plan if Aman paddy cannot be grown in flood-affected areas.
“Around 50,000 farmers of 35 districts have been provided with Black Gram seeds along with DAP and MOP fertilizers worth Tk3.82 crore,” he said, adding that the seeds will be used if Aman paddy can’t be cultivated in the flood-affected areas.
“Aus paddy of 32,213 hectares of land, Aman paddy of 70,820 hectares of land and Aman seedbed of 7,918 hectares of land were severely damaged in flood water,” the minister stated.
More stimulus on the way
Razzaque also revealed that another Tk75 crore stimulus package is in the pipeline for the farmers.
Under that package, 929,000 flood-hit farmers will be provided with free agricultural products for growing wheat, mustard, groundnut, sunflower, khesari, onion, chilli, tomato etc.
However, more initiatives were taken to help the farmers makeup their losses. A total of 141,000 farmers across the country were provided with seedlings, saplings or fertilizer assistance worth Tk37.36 crore.
The items were distributed under the family nutrition garden scheme.
Besides, marking the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, an agricultural incentive was proposed to facilitate the scheme.
Under the proposal, a total of 47.3 million farmers across the country will receive seed, sapling and fertilizer assistance worth Tk152.91 crore.
Minister Razzaque said his ministry and all the subordinate departments have been alert despite the risk of coronavirus infection.
“We’re resolved to retain the increasing trend of agricultural production. We’ve taken steps to make up the losses. If any fresh flood doesn’t appear in the scene, the losses will hopefully be regained to a large extent,” he said.
A total of 14 committees of the ministry are working to expedite, supervise and coordinate different incentive programs, he mentioned.
