16.5m farmers will receive cards, offering 10 types of benefits

The government has decided to bring farmers under the card system to make subsidies, loans, and incentives more accessible to them in the agriculture sector.

Over the next four years, the government will distribute these farmer cards to 16.5 million farmers.

Fishermen and dairy farmers will also benefit from the card. Through this, the BNP government aims to end structural deprivation for farmers.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, a farmer will initially receive 10 types of benefits under this card. These benefits include access to agricultural inputs at fair prices, government subsidies, government incentives, irrigation facilities at fair prices, agricultural loans on easy terms, agricultural insurance benefits, the ability to sell agricultural products at fair prices, agricultural training, weather information, and advice on pest and disease control.

Under this card, farmers can buy fertilizer according to the amount of land they own, which the Department of Agricultural Extension hopes will curb excessive use of fertilizers on agricultural land. If there is any other card for receiving allowances, it will be brought under this card. However, the exact method of distributing benefits through this card has not yet been finalised, and tests are being conducted in several sub-districts.

Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance and Planning, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, told Prothom Alo that one of the main objectives of this initiative is to recognise farmers and ensure their dignity. Each farmer will be provided with a bank account at Sonali Bank. In the first phase, 21,000 landless, marginal, and small farmers will be included.

He mentioned that ownership of less than 5 decimals of land qualifies one as landless, ownership of 5 decimals to 49 decimals qualifies as marginal, and ownership of 50 decimals to 249 decimals qualifies as a small farmer.

The Prime Minister's Adviser stated that the card will contain 45 types of information about the farmer, ensuring that the financial incentives are spent on agriculture.

Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension have said that as part of issuing the farmer card, data collection is ongoing in 10 agricultural blocks in 10 sub-districts. The data collection work is expected to be completed by April. Subsequently, the farmer card will be tested with all farmers in 15 sub-districts. Additionally, work is ongoing to categorise farmers as small, landless, marginal, medium, and affluent based on their income, land ownership, and financial status.

When asked, Agriculture State Minister Sultan Salauddin Tuku told Prothom Alo that the card will ease the disbursement of government incentives, allowances, and subsidies to farmers. The farmer card will be inaugurated on the upcoming Pahela Baishakh (14 April) in line with agricultural culture.

The farmer card was one of the promises in the BNP's election manifesto. The BNP has committed to introducing this card as part of a fundamental transformation in the agriculture sector. The manifesto highlights short-sighted policies, institutional corruption, and limited use of modern science and technology as reasons for the lagging agriculture sector.

As part of the election promise, the BNP government has already waived agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000. On 26 February, the cabinet meeting waived loans in the crop, livestock, and fisheries sectors, amounting to Tk 1,5.50 billion, benefiting at least 1.2 million farmers.

The Department of Agricultural Extension states that there are 16.5 million farmer families in the country. The initial estimated cost of the farmer card is Tk 6.81 billion over four years, but the cost may vary once everything is finalised.

Through the farmer card, the government aims to modernise agricultural management, increase overall farmer income, boost the production of staple crops, diversify agriculture and food production, reduce cultivation costs for farmers, improve the marketing process of agricultural products, and ensure transparency in the distribution of all types of subsidies (financial and agricultural inputs).

The Executive Director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) and Professor of Economics at Dhaka University, Selim Raihan, told Prothom Alo that the government's decision to distribute farmer cards to 16.5 million farmers is a significant initiative.

However, there could be several challenges in its implementation. Firstly, correctly identifying the farmers could pose a major problem. In many cases, outdated lists of genuine farmers might lead to non-farmers or intermediaries trying to access the benefits.

Ensuring the proper delivery of the benefits via the card is also a major challenge, noted Selim Raihan. Issues like artificial shortages, corruption, or irregularities could arise in providing subsidies on fertilizer and diesel at fair prices. Often, in the absence of proper local-level oversight, genuine farmers may face the risk of getting deprived. Additionally, if the technological infrastructure, data management, and coordination between various departments are not properly managed, the effectiveness of this initiative could diminish.

To ensure the success of this initiative, Selim Raihan advised the government on several effective steps, including creating an accurate and digital database of farmers to identify genuine farmers, implementing transparent verification processes at the union and sub-district levels, and ensuring strict supervision and accountability in the distribution of fertilizer, diesel, and other subsidies.