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Millers rip off farmers

Says BB governor

Star Business Report
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman yesterday blamed millers for depriving farmers of fair prices for their produce.
“Farmers are forced to sell their produce at lower prices,” Rahman told a national conference of Bangladesh Trade Union Centre as chief guest. The central bank chief asked the government to compel millers to give farmers due prices.
The government set Tk 14 a kilogram for paddy and Tk 22 for a kilogram of rice for this season.
But farmers across the country, particularly in the rice hub of the northern region, are not receiving the prices, set by the government, due to a nexus of millers and wholesalers.
Rahman said Bangladesh was able to sustain growth amid global recession mainly due to an
immense contribution from the farm sector that grew at 4.6 percent in the immediate past fiscal year. “Farmers should be credited for this outstanding growth,” he said.
Rahman said the central bank is going to announce a comprehensive agriculture credit policy for the first time on July 14 to help farmers receive easy credit.
He also unveiled the annual target for agricultural credit disbursement -- nearly Tk 11,500 crore - that is over 20 percent higher than the Tk 9,380 crore for fiscal 2008-09.
"Bangladesh Bank will strictly monitor the commercial banks' farm credit disbursement,” the governor said.
He revealed that marginal farmers would be given credit for the first time on the basis of certification from locals, including teachers.
Rahman said farmers are being given bank credit at a 2 percent rate of interest for producing spices. He cited examples where Bangladesh imported onions worth Tk 700 crore in fiscal 2008-09.
The governor said the fanners should be supported more. “The prices of inputs could be lowered.”
Rahman also pointed that BB has launched a Tk 200 crore refinance scheme for solar panels. "Support would be extended to industries that would go for effluent treatment plant," Rahman said.
The governor predicts that the Bangladesh economy would grow at 5.5 percent to 6.0 percent this fiscal year despite the global crisis.
But he said a prolonged crisis could hamper the country's exports to the US and Europe.
Trade union leader MA Matin presided over the session that was also addressed by Dr Wazedul Islam Khan, general secretary of Bangladesh Trade Union Centre.