Farmers to get subsidy for seed in next Boro season: Dr Razzaque

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DHAKA, Oct 15, 2020 (BSS) – Agriculture Minister Dr M Abdur Razzaque today said the government will provide subsidy to the growers in the next Boro season for buying seed with a target to increase Boro production.

“The growers will get subsidy for purchasing seeds in the next Boro season to raise Boro rice production”, the minister said in a press briefing at the ministry’s conference room here ahead of the World Food Day.

Under the programme, farmers will get Taka 10 subsidy against purchasing one kilogram of seed.

In the current Aman season, the minister said the government has provided seedlings at free of cost and financial assistance for transplant aman cultivation as recently several floods have damaged the seedlings and standing Aman crops.

Dr Razzaque told the briefing that due to the government’s timely initiative from the very beginning of the corona pandemic, the rice production has significantly increased nearly to 3.87 crore tonnes in the current fiscal year.

Even the government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given top priority on agriculture with an instruction that even an inch of land would not remain uncultivated with a fear of possible food shortage.

About 34.517 lakh tonnes of Aus rice have been produced in the current 2020-21 fiscal year which is 4 lakh tonnes more than the last year.

Apart from this, the minister said over 1.40 lakh family orchards have been set up in 4397 unions across the country spending Taka 37.36 crore. Additional 100 family orchards also will be set up at every union on the occasion of the Birth Centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Agriculture Secretary M Nasiruzzaman was also present during the press briefing.

Under the agriculture rehabilitation programme, a total of 2,39,631 small and marginal farmers got free agricultural inputs including fertilizer and seed at a cost of Taka 17.54 crore.

In addition to this, more 9,29,194 flood affected farmers will get free assistance of Taka 75 crore for cultivating wheat, mustard, peanuts, sunflower, khesari, onion, chili and tomato.