Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Tarique Rahman presides over a cabinet meeting at the Cabinet Division. Photo: Collected
The new government has decided to waive agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000 in the crops, fisheries, and animal husbandry sectors, along with interest. As a result of this decision, Tk 1,550 crore will be covered by this waiver. About 1.2 million farmers will benefit from this.
This decision was made in the first formal meeting of the new cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at the Secretariat on Thursday morning (26.2.2026). Later in the afternoon, Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani announced this decision at a press conference.
In response to journalists' questions, the Cabinet Secretary said that after taking agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000, the entire amount, including interest and principal, will be waived.
In a written statement on this matter, the Cabinet Secretary said that the government has decided to waive agricultural loans up to Tk 10,000 in the crops, fisheries, and animal husbandry sectors, along with interest, as per its election manifesto. Its main goal is to ensure the social security of poor farmers and strengthen the backbone of the agricultural sector.
The Cabinet Secretary said that according to the Bangladesh Bank, as of today (February 26), public commercial and specialized banks and private commercial banks owe about 1,550 crore taka to farmers, including interest, which will be covered by this waiver. If this loan is waived, approximately 1.2 million farmers will directly benefit. As a result, small and marginal farmers will be free from debt obligations, which will increase their enthusiasm for work and help increase production in the country's agricultural sector.
Nasimul Gani also said that now the money that farmers would have spent on loan installments can be invested in high-quality seeds or modern irrigation technology. Since there is no debt burden on their heads, farmers will be able to start farming with new enthusiasm in the next season. Apart from this, the credit record or credit quality of farmers will be good through this waiver process. As a result, they will be able to take agricultural loans from banks at low interest rates again, which will protect them from the high interest rates of local moneylender loans.
In this regard, the Cabinet Secretary further said that as the debt burden is reduced, farmers will be more encouraged to engage in the crop, fishery, and animal husbandry sectors. This will increase national agricultural production and reduce dependence on imports. As an almost immediate effect of the loan waiver, rural-urban migration will decrease, and rural inflation will decrease.
The Cabinet Secretary said that during the tenure of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia's government, interest-principal on agricultural loans up to Tk 5,000 was waived, which played an effective role in reducing the hardships of farmers and increasing agricultural production.
Source: Online/GFMM
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