The government is putting its best foot forward to help farmers buy agricultural machinery with subsidy ahead of the next boro season so that the growers can bring down their production costs, said officials of the agriculture ministry. Some Tk 100 crore has been set aside for this purpose this fiscal year and the farmers will get 50 per cent of the price of a machine as subsidy. For example, a farmer will be entitled to up to Tk 14 lakh of subsidy for buying a combine harvester, which will help him bag produce on time by reducing dependence on labourers. Similar support will be provided for buying reapers and transplanters, the officials said. “We will start offering the support to farmers as soon as possible,” said Agriculture Secretary Md Nasiruzzaman. On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said the finance ministry has already allocated the money and additional fund would be available if needed. On top of that, his ministry has outlined a Tk 3,200-crore project to speed up mechanised farming and the project would soon be placed at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) meeting for approval. The initiative comes in the face of soaring wages due to a shortage of farm labourers in the peak season of harvest and plantation, causing a loss in the yield of rice. Paddy is cultivated on 71 per cent of the total croplands of 1.54 crore hectares in the country, according to official data. As per Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the average daily agricultural labour wage remains high during harvesting seasons of aman and boro rice crops, which account for more than 90 per cent of the total annual production of 3.73 crore tonnes of milled rice. Farmers harvest most of their aman paddy during the months of November and December and the principal crop boro during May and June. The average daily wage (excluding the cost of food) of a male farm worker rose 27 per cent to Tk 337 in May of 2016 from Tk 265 two years earlier, according to BBS data. Currently, farmers prepare more than 90 per cent of their total croplands by power tillers and tractors. A majority of the grains, mainly rice, are threshed by machines and the rate of mechanisation is growing as farmers find the use of agricultural machinery beneficial in terms of cost-saving and timely cultivation. However, the progress in mechanised transplantation and harvest has been slow over the years owing to the high cost of machines, a lack of machinery suitable for cultivating all types of soils and a dearth of operators and mechanics, said agriculturalists. To provide support to farmers, the agriculture ministry requested the finance ministry in October last year to allocate a subsidy fund for combine harvesters, reapers and transplanters. Agriculture Secretary Nasiruzzaman said the agriculture ministry sought the fund from the allocated subsidy of Tk 9,000 crore this fiscal year and the finance ministry would provide another Tk 100 crore if needed. However, the finance ministry has fixed the ratio of subsidy and farmers’ contribution at 50:50 for buying the machinery. Based on that, the agriculture ministry set a ceiling for the price of a combine harvester at Tk 28 lakh to prevent showing inflated prices, he said. “We are trying to finalise everything so that farmers can buy the machinery with subsidy before the upcoming boro season,” said Md Hasanuzzaman Kallol, additional secretary of the agriculture ministry.Officials said a large number of farmers have applied for the subsidy support to buy combine harvesters and other equipment and Tk 350 crore would be required if all applications are granted. With the current allocation, subsidy can be provided to buy 800-plus combine harvesters, and 400 reapers and transplanters, according to the officials. “We had sought a priority list of farmers from the government’s upazila level offices. We have already got the list and a panel here will take decisions so that support can be given to every upazila proportionately,” said Sheikh Md Nazim Uddin, member secretary of the technical committee on the agri-machinery subsidy programme under the ministry. Using farm machinery is the only option for reducing production cost and loss of crops, said Subrata Ranjan Das, executive director of ACI Motors, one of the leading farm machinery marketers. Farmers can save their cost by around 70 per cent by using machinery like combine harvesters and rice transplanters, he said, adding that the government initiative will have a positive impact on farmers’ income. The demand for harvester is quite high and around 60,000 units of harvesters will be needed within the next 3-5 years for a positive impact. “So, the allocation of Tk 100 crore is not enough to meet the requirement,” Das added.
