Bangladesh Bank has taken numerous measures to promote the flow of institutional credit to low-income households. One of BB’s important financial inclusion initiatives is the introduction of a no-frills bank account for unbanked farmers.
Bangladesh is an agro-based developing country where agriculture is the key driving force of the economy. The overall economic development of the country is closely interlinked with the development of the agricultural sector. Developing the agricultural sector is imperative to ensuring food security, increasing employment levels, eradicating poverty, ensuring uninterrupted supply of raw materials in the industrial sector, decreasing imports and increasing exports. Bangladesh Bank has taken numerous measures to promote the flow of institutional credit to low-income households. One of BB’s important financial inclusion initiatives is the introduction of a no-frills bank account for unbanked farmers.
In January 2010, BB issued a circular enabling farmers to open a deposit account in any government owned commercial and specialized bank branch with against his/her a National Identity Card, birth certificate or agriculture equipment assistance card issued by the Department of Agricultural Extension.
The primary deposit of these accounts will be Tk 10 only without any minimum balance requirements, and no fees and charges are applicable to these accounts. Furthermore, KYC forms are not mandatory when opening a 10 Tk account.
The scheme was primarily introduced to enable the Ministry of Agriculture to deposit subsidies for fertilizer, electricity, and diesel directly into farmer’s’ bank accounts. This reduced the administrative cost of transfers, sped up the subsidy payment process, and eliminated the risk of corruption and leakages typically associated with this type of payments. This initiative has brought unbanked farmers into the banking system and encouraged them to use these accounts for savings. Bangladesh Bank has strengthened its regulatory and monitoring system so that farmers can access banking services such as savings deposits, collecting foreign and local remittances and withdrawing agricultural loans and subsidies conveniently.
This has been enabled by making use of the existing countrywide mobile networks and maintaining records of farmers’ mobile numbers. Bangladesh Bank representatives visit villages frequently to collect up-dated information by talking to farmers and other stakeholders such as bankers, agricultural officers and important local community members. Total 9,445,034 farmers’ accounts were recorded as of 16 June, 2011 against the total target of opening 18.20 million accounts, which requires extensive use of information technology is mandatory. Banks have thus been asked been to formulate a technology usage road map.
The program has been implemented by four state-owned commercial banks and two state-owned specialized agricultural banks. Agricultural extension officers at the Upazila level provide farmers with basic information about the program and bank employees provide door-to-door information. Open field distribution of agricultural loans and subsidies haves already been introduced and the government disbursed Tk 722 crore in financial assistance for purchasing diesel purchases in the 2009-10 fiscal year. Marginal and small farmers with a maximum of 1.49 acres of land have received Tk 800 each and mid level farmers with 1.5 to 2.49 acres of land have received Tk 1,000 each through individual bank accounts.
They will be able to take loans from banks instead of rural moneylenders who charge high interest rates. The initiative will raise awareness about of the modern agriculture technology and is generally ll. In a word, this is expected to revolutionize the agricultural sector in Bangladesh.