Make farm machinery affordable
The government should provide at least 80 per cent subsidy to farmers to bring agriculture machinery of their purchasing power.
Representatives of farmers, machinery manufacturers and importers made this call at the "National Workshop on Agricultural Mechanisation Project through Integrated Management" at the Krishibid Institution Auditorium in the capital's Khamarbari yesterday.
To speed up farm mechanisation in the united states, they also urged the federal government to provide loans and agriculture machinery to small entrepreneurs in villages.
The government happens to be giving 70 % subsidy to farmers in the haor areas and 50 per cent subsidy to the farmers in all of those other country to get agriculture machinery.
But most farmers cannot spend the money for rest of the cost to get machinery such as a combined harvester, which costs around Tk 14 lakh to Tk 15 lakh.
Addressing the workshop, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said the government was likely to provide loans to the farmers so that they could afford the remaining cost.
He said the federal government wanted to manufacture farm machinery locally to lessen the dependency on imports. Most of the farm machinery is earned from abroad.
"Besides, we are giving importance to making spare parts and machinery restoring factories so that the ability for jobs can increase locally," Razzaque said.
The government has undertaken a Tk 3,020-crore project with an focus on agricultural mechanisation.
Furthermore, 284 posts of agricultural engineers have already been created at the field level to accelerate farm mechanisation, the minister said.
"Subsequently, agriculture is moving towards mechanisation, and the benefits associated with mechanisation are being reaped," he added.
Md Monjurul Alam, a professor of the farm power and machinery department of Bangladesh Agricultural University, said a survey ought to be carried out to determine the usefulness of the agriculture machinery currently used.
"Moreover, farmers need long-term training to understand about modern machinery," he said.
Women's participation in the agriculture sector is increasing, and the federal government should pay special focus on them.
About 60,000 more combine harvesters are had a need to harvest crops in the united states.
Agricultural loans must be disbursed in a way that makes buying farm machinery mandatory, Alam added.
