Under the refinancing program of Bangladesh Bank, marginal and landless farmers holding smart cards will receive priority in agricultural loans. Bangladesh Bank announced this in a notification on Tuesday. Banks will open accounts for cardholders and give them priority in loan disbursement under the refinancing program. The central bank also instructed lending institutions to take necessary steps to ensure that marginal and landless farmers without smart cards are not deprived of loan facilities.
Bangladesh Bank has also directed banks to give priority in loan disbursement to marginal and landless farmers whose crops were damaged by recent heavy rains. The notification mentioned that special priority must be given to marginal and landless farmers in Sylhet, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Kishoreganj, Netrokona, and Mymensingh's Haor regions, as well as other affected districts.
Prime Minister Tareq Rahman inaugurated the distribution of farmer cards on April 14. In the first phase, these cards were distributed among approximately 22,000 landless, marginal, and small farmers in 11 upazilas across 10 districts nationwide. The government plans to distribute these cards to 16.5 million farmers over the next four years. Fishers and dairy farmers will also benefit from these cards. The BNP government aims to end structural discrimination against farmers through these cards.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, a farmer will initially receive 10 types of benefits under this card. These benefits include fair-priced agricultural inputs, government subsidies, government incentives, fair-priced irrigation facilities, easy-term agricultural loans, agricultural insurance, fair-priced sale of agricultural products, agricultural training, weather information, and advice on disease and pest control.
Under this card, farmers can purchase fertilizers based on the amount of land they own. If a farmer has any other benefit card, it will come under this card. However, the method of providing these benefits through this card has not yet been finalized.
