“We strive to empower farmers and foster financial literacy”

Selim R. F. Hussain, Managing Director & CEO, BRAC Bank

A robust agricultural sector is vital to our country's food security and economic growth, which makes it important to support our farmers with financial facilities and protect them from informal lenders. We need to empower farmers through accessible agri-loans and allow them to invest in high-quality seeds, fertilizers, and modern farm machinery.

Our agri-loans have been designed to cater to various stages of the value chain of agricultural activities. Small and medium farmers can finance ventures like fish farming, poultry, crop production, and more through our working capital and fixed asset financing. Small-scale tea growers can also avail of term loans with us for their business and production. We offer smaller, digital loans for underserved communities like landless farmers (up to Tk. 50,000) to kick-start income-generating activities. These loans are collateral-free with easy terms and less costly. The goal is to foster financial inclusion and growth across Bangladesh's agricultural landscape.

As we strive to empower farmers and foster financial literacy, there's always room for more to be achieved; exploring policies that allow the disbursement of larger loans through digital channels to agricultural sectors could be an area for collaboration. Besides, the availability of financial data will play a crucial role in selecting farmers by banks or financial institutions for loans. Hence, the government might formulate data hubs containing information on farmers and make those available to the banks for their financing decisions. Additionally, more refinancing schemes from Bangladesh Bank for this segment would encourage the provision of more credit in the agri sector.