Tk1,000cr to increase maize, wheat production

Bangladesh Bank has announced a Tk 1000 crore refinance scheme with an aim to increase the country’s maize and wheat production, reducing import dependency.

Under this scheme, farmers can get loan from banks at only 4 per cent interest. On the other hand, banks will collect funds from the central bank at 0.5 per cent interest, so the banks’ margin will be 3.5 per cent. Tenure of the scheme will be three years.

Regarding the scheme, Bangladesh Bank Spokesperson and Executive Director Serajul Islam told the media at a press conference on Sunday that the decision has been taken as the Russia-Ukraine war has disrupted the import of food products.

“This situation tells us that even if there is money at hand, there may be uncertainty of not having the product. That is why it has been decided to give loans at low interest to increase our own production,” he said.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, Bangladesh may have a demand of 85 lakh tonnes of wheat in this marketing year FY23 (June-May).

During last marketing year, the demand was 84 lakh tonnes. Only 13 per cent of the demand can be met locally, the rest has to be imported. The government wants to encourage wheat cultivation to reduce this import dependency, said the central bank spokesperson.

Besides, in FY22 (June-May), Bangladesh imported 65 lakh metric tonnes wheat, which was 13 per cent less than the previous year. The import declined due to Russian-Ukraine war and India’s decision to halt wheat export.

However in the current marketing year FY23 (June-May), Bangladesh may have to be imported 70 lakh metric tonnes of wheat.

Besides, in the FY22, Bangladesh produced 11.3 lakh metric tonnes of wheat on 3.2 lakh hectares of land. In the current FY23, the production target of wheat is 11 lakh metric tonnes on 3.1 lakh hectares of land.

On the other hand, Bangladesh is slightly ahead of wheat in maize cultivation. Annual demand for corn is 70 to 80 lakh tonnes. Of this, 65 per cent is produced locally, according to the USDA data.

According to the data, Bangladesh may import 22 lakh metric tonnes of maize in the current marketing year. Last year, it was 19.5 lakh tonnes.

Meanwhile, 50 lakh tonnes of maize may be produced on 5.6 lakh hectares of land in the current marketing year which was 49 lakh tonnes on 5.50 lakh hectares of land in last year.