Govt decides to waive agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000

As promised in the BNP's election manifesto, the government has decided to waive agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000 in the grain, crop, fishery and animal husbandry sectors. This decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani gave this information after the meeting.

According to the Cabinet Secretary, the main goal of this initiative is to ensure social security of poor farmers and strengthen the backbone of the country's agricultural sector. According to Bangladesh Bank, the total loans of farmers to government commercial and specialized banks and private banks are about Tk 1,550 crore, which will be covered by this waiver.

Approximately 1.2 million farmers will directly benefit from the loan waiver. As small and marginal farmers are freed from the burden of debt, their enthusiasm for work will increase and it will also have a beneficial impact on the country's agricultural production.

The money that farmers used to spend on loan installments will be used to invest in high-quality seeds, modern irrigation technology and other agricultural inputs.

The waiver process will improve the credit records of farmers and they will be able to take loans from banks at low interest rates again. As a result, farmers will be protected from the high interest rates of local moneylender loans.

The secretary said that as the debt burden decreases, farmers will be more encouraged to grow crops, fish and livestock. This will increase national agricultural production, reduce dependence on imports, reduce rural-urban migration and control rural inflation.

It is worth noting that during the 1991-1996 term of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's government, interest-principal on agricultural loans up to Tk 5,000 was waived, which helped alleviate the hardship of farmers and boost agricultural production.