Provide cash incentives to farmers incurring losses: CPD

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Bangla Tribune Desk
Published : 16:10, Jun 11, 2019 | Updated : 16:12, Jun 11, 2019

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has recommended a one-time cash incentive of Tk 5,000 to each farmer who has incurred losses because of low paddy prices.
The private think tank made the recommendation in its report ‘The State of Bangladesh's Economy and Budget Challenges’ published on Tuesday, reports media.
“This year’s Boro harvest has not been a pleasant experience for the farmers due to unexpectedly low prices during the harvest season – against a high cost of production and lack of buyers on the market,” said Toufiqul Islam Khan, a senior research fellow at CPD, in his keynote presentation.
Given the situation, the government may consider providing a one-time cash incentive of Tk5,000 to each of the 18.2 million farmers—agricultural input assistance card holders—in the absence of crop insurance for revenue loss of the farmers during Boro rice cultivation, said Toufiqul.
“To provide cash incentives, a budgetary allocation of around Tk 9,100 crore (91 billion) may be required, and it should be given to the farmers via the bank accounts of respective farmers.”
CPD claimed that the low prices of paddy may be due to increased rice imports.
Monitoring authorities should have been more vigilant about the quantity of rice imported throughout FY18, and its impact on the domestic market, said Toufiqul.
Low import duties on rice should have been rationalised to curb rice imports by the private sector, he added.

/zmi/
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