22,065 farmers primarily selected for Farmers Card rollout on Pahela Baishakh

A total of 22,065 farmers have been initially selected to receive Farmers Cards as the government is set to launch the distribution programme on Pahela Baishakh, said Agriculture Minister Amin-ur Rashid Yasin today (12 April).

The programme will be formally inaugurated at Shaheed Maruf Stadium in Tangail, he said at a press conference at the Information Department conference room at the Secretariat.

He said the initiative will be launched on a pre-piloting basis in 11 blocks under 11 upazilas across 10 districts in all eight divisions.

Distribution of the cards will begin simultaneously in most of the selected blocks on the day, while the programme in the Aranyapur block of Adarsha Sadar upazila in Cumilla will start on 17 April.

At the beginning of the programme, tribute was paid to former prime minister Khaleda Zia and former president Shaheed Ziaur Rahman.

The minister said information of 22,065 farmers was collected as of 11 April.

Of them, 2,246 are landless, 9,458 marginal, 8,967 small, 1,303 medium and 91 large farmers.

Around 93.7% of the selected beneficiaries are landless, marginal and small farmers, he said.

Under the pre-piloting phase, each farmer will receive Tk2,500 in annual cash assistance through the card.

The card will function as a banking debit card, and accounts have been opened in farmers' names through Sonali Bank, he added.

Through the card, farmers will be able to purchase fertiliser, seeds, fish feed and livestock feed, as well as access agricultural loans, subsidies, weather forecasts, market prices, training, pest control advice and agricultural insurance services.

If the pre-pilot phase proves successful, a pilot programme will be launched in 15 upazilas by August, with plans to expand the distribution nationwide and develop an integrated farmer database within the next four years, the minister added.