C T Online Desk: Lauding the allocation for the agriculture sector in the proposed national budget, experts have called upon the government to increase it further to ensure food security amid global uncertainty stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war.
They said the increased allocation will help boost domestic production of agricultural products.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday proposed Tk 42,110 crore for overall agriculture (Agriculture, food, fisheries, water resources and environment), which is 6.2 percent of the total budget.
Of the amount, agriculture ministry has got Tk 24,220 crore, 3.6 percent of the total budget.
The overall agriculture sector received Tk 31,911 crore last year with Tk 16,197 crore earmarked for agriculture ministry.
Former Bangladesh Bank Governor Prof Dr Atiur Rahman said, “The focused attention on increased allocations for agriculture and consequent food security in a volatile world has indeed been a highly prudent move.”
“Indeed, our robust agriculture has not only been the ultimate safeguard of our economy in the difficult days of the Covid-19 pandemic but also continues to remain a source of employment plus robust domestic consumption and demand. With enhanced agricultural production, it has been substituting import of food and thus helping the stability of our foreign exchange reserve. The trade imbalance could go worse had the agricultural not been so resilient,” he said.
“The government should increase the allocation to around 10 percent of the total budget to boost domestic production and meet the growing demand for food items,” agro economist and researcher Dr Jahangir Alam Khan told the Daily Sun.
He said it is a good sign that the government increased the allocation on overall agriculture sector after a declining trend over the last 10 years.
“In 2012-13 fiscal year, the budgetary allocation for overall agriculture was 10.5 percent and subsidy was 6.3 percent in relation to the total budget. But, the overall allocation for agriculture has declined to 5.2 percent while subsidy to 1.7 percent compared to the total budget in FY 2021-22,” Dr Jahangir said.
In FY 2022-23, the budgetary allocation for overall agriculture is 6.2 percent and subsidy is 2.42 percent in relation to the total budget, he said.
“The budgetary allocation has seen a U-turn this time as the prices of agro inputs and food have shot up. This increased budgetary allocation will bridge the trade gap. But, the government should increase the allocation further to boost domestic production,” said the agro economist.
He lamented that the government has not introduced agro insurance in the upcoming fiscal year. “It could have introduced agro insurance for the farmers of haor and coastal areas.”
