City Bank PLC, Milk Vita and Agroshift recently signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch a pioneering digital dairy financing initiative aimed at expanding access to formal finance for dairy and cattle farmers across Bangladesh through a technology-enabled ecosystem.
The MoU signing ceremony was held at City Bank Center in Gulshan, Dhaka, in the presence of Mashrur Arefin, managing director & CEO of City Bank PLC and SM Ameer Hamza Shatil, chairman of Milk Vita.
Also present were Qazi Bouland Mussabbir, CEO of Agroshift; Md Mahbubur Rahman, AMD & CFO; Kamrul Mehedi, DMD & head of small, microfinance and agent banking business; Md Ashanur Rahman, DMD, chief economist & country business manager of City Bank PLC; Zahidul Islam, managing director of Milk Vita and joint secretary of the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division; Diptha Saha, COO of Agroshift; along with other senior officials from the three organizations.
The partnership seeks to address one of the most critical challenges facing Bangladesh's dairy sector- limited access to formal financing despite the sector's significant contribution to the national economy and rural livelihoods.
According to industry estimates, Bangladesh is home to approximately 1.2 million dairy farms, supporting nearly 9.4 million people directly and indirectly.
The livestock and dairy subsector contributes around 2.73% to national GDP and 17.15% of agricultural GDP.
Bangladesh produced approximately 10.79 million tonnes of milk in 2024, ranking fifth in Asia and nineteenth globally by production volume.
The domestic milk market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 9% through 2029, reaching an estimated market size of $8.43 billion.
Despite this growth potential, a significant demand-supply gap persists, while only around 9% of total milk production currently flows through formal processing channels.
Under the initiative, Milk Vita - Bangladesh's largest dairy cooperative ecosystem will provide access to its extensive network of more than 3,300 primary cooperative societies, 61 chilling centers and over 300,000 dairy farmers operating across 57 districts.
Agroshift will serve as the technology and ecosystem enablement partner, supporting farmer identification, digital onboarding, eKYC facilitation, operational monitoring and utilization tracking through a digitized platform.
Leveraging this digital infrastructure, City Bank will facilitate financing solutions tailored to the needs of dairy and cattle farmers, enabling productive investments, improved financial inclusion and greater participation in the formal banking system.
The collaboration represents a powerful convergence of cooperative reach, digital innovation and financial expertise.
By creating a robust digital data infrastructure and farmer financing framework, the initiative aims to unlock sustainable growth opportunities throughout the dairy value chain.
The bank has also demonstrated a strong commitment to the livestock and dairy sector.
During FY26, City Bank disbursed approximately Tk413 crore to dairy farming enterprises out of total agricultural loan disbursements of Tk1,100 crore, underscoring the sector's strategic importance within the Bank's agricultural financing portfolio.
Looking ahead, the partnership envisions onboarding more than 100,000 farmers digitally through Milk Vita's cooperative network, establishing a scalable dairy financing model across all 64 districts of Bangladesh, and building a digital data infrastructure for more than 300,000 farmers.
The initiative is expected to strengthen financial inclusion, improve productivity, promote formal banking access and create a sustainable framework for rural economic development.
Speaking on the occasion, representatives of the three organizations expressed confidence that the collaboration will serve as a transformative model for digitally enabled agricultural financing, helping unlock new opportunities for dairy farmers while supporting Bangladesh's broader goals of rural development, food security and inclusive economic growth.
