The government is considering the launch of incentive packages for educated youths in the agriculture sector to encourage brilliant people to come to the sector for its fast growth.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal disclosed the government’s plan on Thursday.
“We will try to give some incentives to encourage educated youth who want to pursue their career in the agriculture sector,” he told reporters after a virtual pre-budget discussion with media representatives.
The minister said, “We’ll do wherever we should for the development of the agricultural sector. Agriculture is our lifeline. We will use modern technology in the sector.”
He said agriculture will be mechanized and that the government has already started working on the matter.
“Last time we had a statement in the budget. We also put some money in the sector. I think our agriculture sector is doing very well and the government will do whatever is needed to make the agriculture more dynamic, fast and strong,” he added.
Mustafa Kamal said that the supply of rice has reduced this year due to the inability of farmers to work properly due to coronavirus pandemic.
Asked about the reason for the high price of rice in the market despite the permission to import 8-10 lakh tonnes of rice, he said, "Production of paddy, rice and wheat depends on nature.”
“We can be self-sufficient in food grain production in the year when our nature is normal. If there is a natural disaster, we cannot maintain it. We will have a successful year if we can make proper use of the amount of land, skills and abilities we have here,” he added.
Referring to various suggestions made by media leaders, he said ShykhSeraj, Channel I News Head, suggested focusing on food security, increasing subsidies in agriculture and poultry industry.
"We have a team to work out the budget, and that team will do the work," he said, referring to the advice of media representatives on various issues, including money waste prevention.
He continued “We have received suggestions, which we will consider. We will sit together again with the team and decide which of these will be used in the preparation of the budget.”
The finance minister said, “We will accept as much advice as we can.”
Finance Division Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder, Financial Institutions Division Senior Secretary Md Ashadul Islam, Economic Relations Division Secretary Fatima Yasmin, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem and Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir also took part in the discussion.
