Small and marginal farmers need govt support to ensure food security: Tariff and non-tariff barriers essential to protect farmers and agri-businessmen

Staff Correspondent

The country needs to protect the small and marginal farmers and entrepreneurs for sustainable growth of agribusiness by providing them with financial and infrastructural support in order to attain food security in the future, said speakers at a seminar on Thursday.
   The government must provide credit, policy, infrastructure and investment support for accelerating the growth of agribusiness as annually the country incurs a post-harvest loss of some 30-35 per cent due to lack of proper infrastructural facilities, they said while addressing the seminar on ‘Agribusiness in Bangladesh: present status, pitfalls and prospects’, held at the CIRDAP auditorium.
   The national trade rules must include tariff and non-tariff barriers for protecting the marginal farmers as well as the small and marginal entrepreneurs, otherwise it will be difficult for them to compete with the players in the global market, the speakers pointed out.
   The seminar was organised by Oxfam International and GMark Consulting Ltd, and Khairul Islam from the latter company presented the keynote paper.
   According to the multilateral trade rules, the least developed countries, including Bangladesh, have the mandate to impose 200 per cent duty on imports to protect the small and medium entrepreneurs.
   The government must also increase the allocation for agriculture research and technology to boost agricultural production although the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are asking the government to gradually reduce the subsidies for agriculture, they said.
   The growth of agribusiness, though faster than the 3.2 per cent annual expansion in 1999-2000, is still insufficient to generate enough employment and income growth that is required to reduce poverty significantly and accelerate the overall growth of the rural economy, said the keynote paper.
   Agribusiness systems in Bangladesh are characterized by large numbers of small-scale farmers, a generally weak base of input suppliers, limited technical and market information services, multi-layered procurement and distribution channels, few post-harvest facilities and services and a relatively small agro-processing sector, the paper added.
   The seminar was attended, along with others, by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s adviser Manzur Ahmed, WTO expert and economic minister of Bangladesh in WTO Badrul Hasan and Shirin Sultana, and was presided over by Ziaul Haque (Mukta).