The government may increase agriculture subsidy in the next fiscal year, as farmers are not getting fair prices for their produce, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.

“I think we have to give more subsidy to the farm sector as prices of the produce have fallen in the local markets due to a surplus in output,” Muhith said in a meeting with Shykh Seraj, a leading agriculture development activist and journalist, at the minister's secretariat office in Dhaka.

Seraj, also the director and head of news at private television Channel i, submitted a set of recommendations to the minister after a campaign for agriculture budget and welfare of the farmers.

“If the farmers do not get proper prices, they might be discouraged in future. So, we will continue the subsidy and we might increase the amount in the next fiscal year to help farmers,” Muhith said.

“Increasing farm subsidy this time is a surprising matter for me, as the government had earlier given subsidy to the agricultural sector for a deficit in food production. But now we are giving the subsidy to ensure proper prices for the farmers for a surplus in food production.”

However, the minister did not mention the extent to which the subsidy will be increased.

The government would provide subsidy for the farm sector so that the farmers can purchase fertilisers and farm machinery, and use the subsidised money for irrigation.

Muhith said the government might also start purchasing maize from the farmers as its cultivation is gaining popularity in Bangladesh.

Maize has a very big market worldwide, but in Bangladesh, farmers do not get fair prices for low demand.

On the disbursement of farm loans, the minister said he will ask Krishi Bank, a state-owned bank for the farmers, to supply a list of loan recipients to the ministry every month, so that the middlemen cannot cheat the farmers.

In his proposals, Seraj urged the government to facilitate the farmers in using different apps, so that they can get timely information on farming and marketing of goods for proper prices.

Seraj also proposed the government provide subsidies to the poultry farmers as they have been struggling to sustain after losses from bird flu a few years ago.

The number of poultry farms across the country declined to about 80,000 from more than 1.5 lakh a few years ago, due to a lack of financial support from the government, Seraj added.

Seraj urged the government to give higher subsidy to the fisheries sector to boost production.

Seraj asked the government to strengthen the activities of the state owned Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), which is responsible for producing improved varieties of cows.

The performance of BLRI is poor, although the government has been spending hefty sums of money on this institute every year, he said.

Earlier, Seraj and his team held meetings with farmers in six districts to prepare the budgetary proposals. This is the 11th time that he has placed the budgetary proposals for this sector.