Tk 100cr subsidy earmarked for farm machinery
The government is putting its best foot forward to greatly help farmers buy agricultural machinery with subsidy ahead of the next boro season to ensure that the growers may bring down their production costs, said officials of the agriculture ministry.
Some Tk 100 crore has been reserve for this purpose this fiscal year and the farmers are certain to get 50 % of the price of a machine as subsidy.
For example, a farmer will be entitled to up to Tk 14 lakh of subsidy for buying a combine harvester, which can only help him bag produce promptly by reducing reliance on labourers.
Similar support will be provided for buying reapers and transplanters, the officials said.
"We will start offering the support to farmers immediately," said Agriculture Secretary Md Nasiruzzaman.
On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said the finance ministry has recently allocated the money and additional fund would be available if needed.
In addition, his ministry has outlined a Tk 3,200-crore project to increase mechanised farming and the project would soon be put at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) meeting for approval.
The initiative comes in the face of soaring wages because of a shortage of farm labourers in the peak season of harvest and plantation, causing a loss in the yield of rice. Paddy is cultivated on 71 % of the full total croplands of just one 1.54 crore hectares in the united states, according to official data.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the common daily agricultural labour wage remains high during harvesting seasons of aman and boro rice crops, which account for more than 90 % of the total gross annual production of 3.73 crore tonnes of milled rice.
Farmers harvest almost all of their aman paddy through the months of November and December and the main crop boro during May and June.
The average daily wage (excluding the price tag on food) of a male farm worker rose 27 per cent to Tk 337 in May of 2016 from Tk 265 2 yrs earlier, according to BBS data.
Currently, farmers prepare more than 90 % of their total croplands by power tillers and tractors.
Most the grains, mainly rice, are threshed by machines and the rate of mechanisation keeps growing as farmers find the application of agricultural machinery beneficial when it comes to cost-saving and timely cultivation.
However, the progress in mechanised transplantation and harvest has been slow over the years due to the high cost of machines, too little machinery ideal for cultivating all types of soils and a dearth of operators and mechanics, said agriculturalists.
To supply support to farmers, the agriculture ministry requested the finance ministry in October this past year to allocate a subsidy fund for incorporate harvesters, reapers and transplanters.
Agriculture Secretary Nasiruzzaman said the agriculture ministry sought the fund from the allocated subsidy of Tk 9,000 crore this fiscal year and the finance ministry would provide another Tk 100 crore if needed.
However, the finance ministry has fixed the ratio of subsidy and farmers' contribution at 50:50 for purchasing the machinery.
Predicated on that, the agriculture ministry set a ceiling for the cost of a incorporate harvester at Tk 28 lakh to prevent showing inflated prices, he said.
"We want to finalise everything so that farmers can purchase the machinery with subsidy before the upcoming boro season," said Md Hasanuzzaman Kallol, additional secretary of the agriculture ministry.
Officials said a huge number of farmers have applied for the subsidy support to get incorporate harvesters and other equipment and Tk 350 crore would be required if all applications are granted.
With the existing allocation, subsidy can be provided to get 800-plus incorporate harvesters, and 400 reapers and transplanters, based on the officials.
"We had sought a priority list of farmers from the government's upazila level offices. We've already got the list and a panel here will need decisions so that support can be directed at every upazila proportionately," said Sheikh Md Nazim Uddin, member secretary of the technical committee on the agri-machinery subsidy programme under the ministry.
Using farm machinery may be the only choice for reducing production cost and lack of crops, said Subrata Ranjan Das, executive director of ACI Motors, one of the leading farm machinery marketers.
Farmers can save their cost by around 70 % by using machinery like combine harvesters and rice transplanters, he said, adding that the government initiative could have a positive impact on farmers' income.
The demand for harvester is very high and around 60,000 units of harvesters will be needed next 3-5 years for a positive impact.
"So, the allocation of Tk 100 crore isn't enough to meet the necessity," Das added.
