Agriculture Minister Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid spoke today in the Jatiya Sangsad session. Photo: Video Screenshot

SANGSAD BHABAN, March 31, 2026 (BSS) -Agriculture Minister Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid today informed parliament that the government has undertaken various pragmatic and timely initiatives to increase agricultural production and support farmers across the country.

Replying to a starred question from ruling party lawmaker Reza Ahammed (Kushtia-1), the minister said Bangladesh is an agriculture-dependent country and the government has taken realistic and effective measures to ensure food security, improve farmers’ living standards, attain economic growth, and provide comprehensive support to the agriculture sector.

He said that as part of implementing the government’s election pledges, a pre-piloting programme has been undertaken to provide Tk 2,500 per farmer as incentives for fertilizers, seeds, and other agricultural inputs through farmer cards to landless, marginal, and small farmers.

The minister told the House that under the agricultural rehabilitation and incentive programme, farmers are receiving free seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and other agricultural inputs. In the current 2025-26 fiscal year, Tk 700 crore has been allocated for this programme, of which Tk 401.60 crore has already been released, benefiting about 2.522 million farmers.

He further said that the government has already waived agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000 per farmer in line with its election commitments, with an expenditure of Tk 1,550 crore, benefiting nearly 1.2 million farmers.

Following the canal excavation programme introduced by Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, the government has undertaken an initiative to excavate and re-excavate 20,000 kilometres of canals across the country to boost agricultural production.

The agriculture minister said the government has given top priority to agricultural production and provided subsidies for fertilizers, irrigation electricity, sugarcane and other sectors in the 2025-26 fiscal year.

According to the minister, 2.6 million metric tons of urea, 0.95 million metric tons of TSP, 1.05 million metric tons of MOP, and 1.685 million metric tons of DAP fertilizers have been supplied to farmers at subsidized prices during the current fiscal year.

He also said that 180 mini cold storages have been constructed for preserving vegetables and fruits, along with 703 model potato storage houses and 800 model onion storage facilities across the country.

The minister added that due to the government’s realistic policies and election commitments, production of rice, maize, potatoes, vegetables, fruits and other crops is increasing, and the government remains committed to sustaining this growth trend.