Bonik Barta file photo The
allocation for the agriculture sector in the proposed budget is not sufficient
for its long-term development, Dr Jahangir Alam, the director of Dhaka School
of Economics under Dhaka University, said on Wednesday.
In
order to sustain growth, allocation and subsidy in the agriculture sector must
be increased, he said while delivering the keynote speech at a discussion
titled ‘Agriculture Sector in Proposed Budget for 2024-25 FY’. Dhaka School of Economics
organized the event at the capital’s Eskaton area.
It
is necessary to increase the supply of capital in the sector to transform
conventional production system of agriculture into commercial agriculture, according
to the keynote speech. In the proposed budget, only Tk 473.32 billion has been
allocated for the five ministries concerning the agriculture sector. This represents
5.94 percent of the total budgetary allocation. Of this, Tk 272.14 billion has been
allocated for crop farming, which is 3.41 percent of the total budget. And, as compared
to the revised budget of the current fiscal year, the allocation for the entire
agriculture sector decreased by Tk 86.70 billion or 15.48 percent.
On
the other hand, the amount of subsidy has been reduced. In the revised budget,
the amount of subsidy was estimated at Tk 256.44 billion. It was brought down
to Tk 172.61 billion this time which will hamper the production of agriculture
and disrupt food security.
Bangladesh
is number 8 among the top 10 food insecure countries in the world, according to
the ‘Global Report on Food Crisis 2024’ published from Germany. According to
the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) data, 22 percent people in the
country are still living under food insecurity.
