Farm mechanisation push missed in budget

Agricultural mechanisation has increased in Bangladesh. But it is mostly limited to some crops grown in large areas such as rice and there is a need to push for its expansion in horticulture, aquaculture and dairy farming. 

"We need milking machines, fish aerators and garden tractors. There is a need for state intervention in terms of policy support or subsidy for machine-driven farming," said F H Ansarey, managing director of the agribusiness division of ACI Ltd.

"…but we have not seen any intervention in these areas in the proposed budget. Subsidy should have been given in these areas to expand coverage of mechanisation. This is necessary to attract youths to agriculture," he said.

Ansarey, who has been in agribusiness for more than four decades, made the observation in an interview with The Daily Star yesterday on the proposed budgetary measures for the farm sector for fiscal year 2023-24.

The finance ministry proposed increasing the overall allocation for agriculture, including fisheries, livestock, land, water resources and environment, by nearly 4 per cent to Tk 43,700 crore for the coming fiscal year beginning from July from the outgoing fiscal's proposed outlay.

The increase of the allocation amidst the ongoing economic downturns was a good initiative, said Ansarey.

It is also commendable that the government is going to continue subsidies for agriculture and farm machinery to boost production, he said.

"But the food value chain is yet to be fully established. As such, prices fluctuate and both farmers and consumers are deprived of selling and buying foods at fair prices," he said.

"Here we need to develop in post-harvest management and focus on building warehouses and cold chains to preserve and transport food from farms to markets. There has been no step in this direction," said Ansarey.

On whether it should be the private sector to come up with the investment, he said past experience showed that the government introduced new things to develop markets or practices and later the private sector followed and invested based on the successes.

"The government can set up cold chains or establish warehouses and engage the private sector to manage that initially," he said.

Besides, agricultural research is vital and the government should provide incentives for private sector agricultural research. "We have not seen anything in the budget in this regard," said Ansarey.

"Our production has increased but productivity has not," he said.

"The government has taken steps for agriculture but we expected a broad-based plan that targets to develop agriculture and build a food value chain from research to dining table by integrating retail too. We have not seen that in the proposed budget," he said.

Singapore is a highly urbanised country with little local agricultural production but has developed a supply chain from import to table and the benefits are enjoyed by consumers, he said.

"We need to focus on establishing a wholesome food value chain to take agriculture to the next level," he said.