The government has planned to increase the amount of loan to Tk 100,000 from the existing Tk 50,000 in 2020 under the Ektee Bari Ektee Khamar (One House One Firm, EBEK) project.
“Currently, the government, through the project, is disbursing maximum Tk 50,000 as loan among the rural people to initiate small livestock farms. We have a plan to double the amount from the next year as the existing amount is not enough for ensuring a standard living for the poor,” EBEK Project Director Akbar Hossain told BSS.
He said the government undertook the project to alleviate poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through fund mobilization and farming.
In line with the key objectives of the project, it has been playing a vital role to make the poor people self-reliant, he added.
Under the project, Akbar said, over 21.8 million poor and extreme poor people across the country are getting benefits while a total of 89,939 Village Development Associations (VDAs) have been formed from which about 436.3 million families are getting benefits. The government has set a target to form 101,000 VDAs across the country and the number of beneficiary families will be 606.2 million by 2020, he added.
The beneficiaries have deposited over Tk 15.22.41 billion till January 2019 and the government has provided Tk 13.23.19 billion as the grant under the project, he informed.
EBEK project started in 2009 with Tk 14.92 billion and finally, the project was revised in 2016 with Tk 80.10.27 billion. A VDA is formed with 60 members and of them, 40 members are women.
Under the project, each member of VDA saves Tk 200 per month and the government gives the equal amount to them as a bonus. All the money has been deposited to the bank account of VDA.
After getting fund from the respective VDA, a male or female member of each poor family develops small farms like fishery, livestock, poultry, nursery and vegetable gardening. Thus every inch of land of the low-income person is used efficiently for agro-production.
After making an income from their farms, the members of each VDA make repayment of their loans in instalment to the account of the VDA. Thus the fund is being revolved and utilized for poverty alleviation by these poor permanently.