RSS Feed (xml)
extending subsidised inputs and services to farmers and designing
agri- related plans in future, officials said. The database will also
be used in sketching schemes to boost rural economy. "The data will
help us provide any type of supports to the farmers in future, and we
will also prevent any system loss," Agriculture Minister Matia
Chowdhury told The Daily Star recently. It is the second time the
government is preparing such a list of farmers. The immediate past
caretaker government prepared a list of about 67 extend direct cash
subsidy to those who were suffering from high irrigation costs in
2008 crop season due to increased diesel price. Based on the list,
the then government disbursed Tk 250 farmers in fiscal However
complaints of irregularities were raised with a study by Bangladesh
Institute Development Studies observing that about one- fifth of the
total disbursed money went to wrong hands due mainly to faulty
listing procedure. The present government discontinued the cash
subsidy on diesel for the last Boro season although budgetary
allocations were there. "We have taken it seriously. We will
scrutinise the list to ensure any misrepresentation and error," said
Matia. The agriculture officials said the new database will encompass
all the Boro farmers across the country instead of covering only
small and marginal ones, done by the caretaker government. "We will
use the database for any agri-related planning in future. It will
also be useful to provide inputs and extension services to the
farmers," said CQK Mustaq Ahmed, secretary of agriculture ministry.
"It will help us get an idea about the overall agricultural and
socio-economic scenario in rural Bangladesh," he said, adding that
the data will be available in the internet. As part of the
initiative, around 12 agriculture extension workers have been engaged
in collecting information from root level with focus on farmers who
cultivated rice during the last season of Boro, the biggest crop in
Bangladesh. Officials said information such as name and address of
all the farmers, total land a farmer owns, and Boro cultivation area
out of the total owned land has been collected. Information on the
type of irrigation facility farmers received has also been taken. In
case of the irrigation facility based on underground water,
information whether the irrigation is provided by pumps run by diesel
or electricity has been brought under consideration. If the
irrigation facility is taken on rental basis, the name of the pump
operator or manager will be collected. Agri-extension workers said
they would complete the task of collecting information by early next
month and the move to collect data about all Boro farmers has eased
the work. "The idea of collecting data about the farmers is good. We
are not facing any pressure from any quarter to list anyone's name,"
said a senior agri-extension official in Natore district. "Each
upazila will be given Tk 5,000 for completing the task. But we had to
spend more than Tk 20 collection forms and other purposes," he said.
