Photo: Collected
Banks can easily recover loans from farmers than from millionaires, State Minister for Commerce Ahasanul Islam Titu said on Thursday (30 May) at a seminar by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).
"Though the banks can easily recover the money given to the farmers but millionaires in the country do not repay loans," the state minister made the remark at a seminar titled "Smart Agriculture and Challenges in Value Chain Development".
"Farmers often receive insufficient compensation for their crops. As a result, they are forced to sell the crops at low prices because they need to quickly cover one-third of their expenses for irrigation, fertiliser, and labour," he added.
The state minister further said, "Our country lacks specialised markets for agricultural products. Although there are various retail and wholesale markets, there is no market dedicated to specific products.
"If there were formal commodity markets, farmers could secure funds in advance before growing crops which would boost production. Many entrepreneurs would invest there in advance."
The minister said, "The biggest problem in the agricultural sector is standardisation and certification. Earlier, there was no standardisation of rice. It was fixed three months ago. Three ministries have together decided how rice will be sold. It has also been decided in what name the rice will be sold. Now there will be discipline.
The State Minister also said, "Farmers are very smart. They make proper decisions about crop production, knowing the optimal times for planting different crops. They have transformed single-crop land into triple-crop land and are also successfully growing additional crops in between."
Messenger/Mumu
