Leaders of peasant wings of different political parties on Sunday expressed their disappointment over the budgetary allocation for the agricultural sector for the financial year 2025-26.
The interim government allocated Tk 39,620 crore for agriculture, food, livestock and fisheries, which was not enough to ensure the country鈥檚 food security, said the leaders.
They demanded an increased budgetary allocation for and private investment in the agricultural sector.
The leaders made the remarks and raised the demands at a discussion titled 鈥業ncreasing government budgetary allocation and private investment in the agriculture sector鈥�, organised by Krishak Majur Samhati, at the National Press Club in the capital.
Krishak Majur Samhati joint general secretary Towhidur Rahman said that the agricultural budget and subsidies did not increase at the same rate as the national budget over the past decade, but rather those were reduced.
He also said that it was necessary to increase the supply of food products in the market to control food price inflation as the prices of products would not go down if the supply did not increase.
The growth rate of agricultural production is low and there is no other way to achieve the expected growth rate without increasing the investment in the agricultural sector, said Towhidur.
Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal general secretary Shahidul Islam Babul said that the government failed to meet expectations of the people by the budget after the July uprising as the government passed a budget similar to ones passed in the previous years.
鈥榃e are committed to introducing smart cards for farmers if the BNP wins the next election,鈥� said Shahidul.
Jatiya Krishak Jote general secretary Ashek E Elahi said that there was a lack of political will of the governments to bring real development to the agricultural sector.
鈥業t is not possible to develop the agricultural sector by depriving farmers,鈥� said Ashek.
The interim government earlier on the day passed the national budget for the 2025-26 financial year proposed on June 2 by finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed.
Among others, Krishak Majur Samhati president Dewan Abdur Rashid Nilu, its general secretary Abdul Alim, Ganosamhati Andolan executive coordinator Abul Hassan Rubel, former agriculture secretary Anwar Farooq and others spoke at the programme.
