Bangladesh Bank has announced a new agricultural loan disbursement policy with a target of Tk. 35,000 crore to ensure food security in the country.
Central Bank Deputy Governor AKM Sajedur Rahman Khan announced the agriculture and rural credit policy as the chief guest at Motijheel head office on Sunday (August 6). At this time, Kaniz Fatema, Director of Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and senior officials were present.
As per the announcement, those who have rooftop gardens can also apply for farm loans.
Considering the demand for agricultural and rural loans, the government, commercial and specialized banks were given a target of Tk. 12,300 crore, Tk. 21,923 crore to private commercial banks and Tk. 1,470 crore to the branches of foreign banks in Bangladesh.
In the financial year 2022-23, banks disbursed a total of Tk. 32,830 crores of agricultural and rural loans which is 106.55 percent higher than the total target for the financial year.
In the last financial year, a total of 36.18 lakh farmers received agricultural and rural loans. Out of which 18.81 lakh women received loans of about Tk. 12752.46 crores from banks and micro financial institutes (MFIs) or NGOs.
Agricultural credit policies have been formulated focusing on the food security of the country in the changing global situation.
Apart from the target for commercial banks, Bangladesh Cooperative Bank Limited and Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) were given targets to disburse Tk. 26 crore and Tk. 1,423 crore as agricultural and rural loans respectively.
Banks will use their own networks (branches, sub-branches, agent banking, syndicated loan disbursal) and bank-MFI linkages to achieve credit distribution targets.
In this case, the amount of loans distributed through the bank's own network should be at least 50 percent of the target. Earlier it was 30 percent.