Proposed budget to make poor farmers poorer, rich farmers richer: Khani

Incentives, refinancing and mechanisation of the agriculture sector mentioned in proposed budget will mostly benefit the large and medium farmers, and deprive small and marginal farmers, said the Bangladesh Khadya Nirapatta Network (Khani).

There is no specific plan in the proposed budget to reconstruct agricultural goods' marketing system, which has crumbled down due to the Covid-19 crisis, said speakers at a press conference titled "Janaparjalopchona: Krishi-Budget 2021 (Public Assessment: Agri-Budget 2021 )."

The virtual press conference was organised by Khani on Saturday.

Speakers at the programme said Tk5,000 crore has been proposed as loan assistance and Tk3,000 crore has been proposed as incentives for the farmers in the budget.

However, tenant farmers or sharecroppers and farmers outside any institution will not benefit from these provisions as they do not have required documents of lands and track record of loans.

So, these small, marginal farmers and sharecroppers will become poorer, while rich farmers will get richer using these incentives.

President of Khani Bangladesh Dr Mohammad Jaynul Abedin presided over the press conference, while Gauranga Nandi, chief of the Daily Kaler Kantha's Khulna bureau, moderated the discussion.

Dr Jahangir Alam Khan, vice chancellor of University of Global Village, was chief speaker at the virtual programme.

Salma Ahmed, advocacy coordinator of Khani, presented the keynote paper at the press conference.