The farmers’ app has created quite a buzz! Last November, the food department of the ministry of food began registering through the app for sale of rice.
The relevant people say that initially, the pilot created a stir in 16 upazilas of 16 districts.
The satisfaction has led people to hope that the app will be introduced in phases across the country.
To prevent the influence of middle men, the initiative of the app was taken and as part of this, directives were sent to agro officials from the department of food.
The last date of registration using the app was Dec 12 while the last date for the selling was Dec 20. Within this time, 141,989 farmers applied to be registered through app. Of this, 76,583 persons applied to sell rice.
The app was made with the technical support of the Bangladesh Computer Council. First, the farmers will register and the upazila agro official will assess the registration and give approval for application for sale.
Then a lottery will be held and if a farmer is selected in the lottery then the final approval for submission of rice will be given. After the approval of the upazila food control officer, the farmer will get the money.
Previously, farmers had to go to upazila office to get information about the process which they will now get by sitting at home. The app can also be used to express farmers’ opinion.
The app was used in 16 districts including: Naogaon, Bogura, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Jashore, Borishal, Bhola, Cumilla, Mymensingh, Jamalpur, Savar, Gazipur.
Food secretary Dr Mosammat Nazmanara Khanom said: “The response we got is overwhelming. In the future this will be introduced all over the country.”