Govt to spend Tk 50,000cr on farm sector revamp

The government plans to spend nearly Tk 50,000 crore in the next five years on revamping the farm sector, which now faces impediments ranging from land scarcity to overexploitation of groundwater.

The amount will be spent as part of the government's seventh five-year plan that begins this July and will end in fiscal 2019-20.

Though it is projected that the agriculture sector's contribution to GDP would drop in future, the government still gives importance to the sector, as it generates huge employment and plays a role in ensuring food security.

To hold a final consultation on the first chapter of the draft seventh five-year plan, a meeting was organised yesterday with all stakeholders at the National Economic Council's conference room with MA Mannan, state minister for finance and planning, in the chair.

Matia Chowdhury, agriculture minister, and Anisul Islam Mahmud, water resources minister, addressed the meeting on the chapter on "strategy for agriculture, rural development and food security".

In a presentation, Prof Shamsul Alam, member of the planning commission's general economics division, projected that rice and potato output would continue to grow and meet domestic demand till 2021. But growth in production of oilseeds, pulse and maize would fall short of requirements.

The country is also lagging behind in fulfilling the requirements of nutritious food items like milk, meat and egg, according to the presentation.

Against a 250-millilitre per capita milk requirement a day, the country meets little over 100ml at present; against a requirement of 120 grams of meat a day, there is a supply of 80 grams. Also, against a yearly per capita requirement of 104 eggs, people in Bangladesh are getting 66.

The expenditure would also go for water resources management, and forestry, in alignment with the farm sector revamp policy.

Speaking at the meeting, the agriculture minister expressed worry about a 'brain drain' of agricultural scientists.

If the government fails to provide agricultural scientists with better salaries and incentives and cannot yield benefits of biotechnology because of brain drain, the farm sector would not reach a higher growth level, she said.

Matia cautioned against overexploitation of groundwater and said she would rather ban cultivation of irrigation-fed boro in the Barendra region and encourage maize and wheat farming instead, so that less groundwater is mined.

On fast depletion of farmland, the water resources minister said there is a huge prospect of land reclamation. "It will take only Tk 400 crore if we want to reclaim a 150 square kilometre of land by building a dam in Urir Char."

Mahabub Hossain, an adviser to Brac, emphasised resource allocation in promising sub-sectors like livestock and fisheries. Participants also stressed the need to invest more on agricultural research and development so that farmers can grow more from the diminishing croplands.