Prime Minister Tareque Rahman announced that farmers will be able to access tomorrow’s rain forecast on their mobile phones through the Krishi Card (Farmer Card), in addition to receiving various other benefits for agricultural work. He stated that there are initial plans to distribute this card to 40 lakh (4 million) farmers. This will enable farmers to make informed decisions regarding agricultural activities such as seed sowing and fertilizer application based on weather information.
The Prime Minister made these remarks on Tuesday (October 20) at a public rally organized by the BNP in Rajshahi’s historic Madrasa Maath.
Tareque Rahman stated that the BNP believes the nation will thrive if agriculture and farmers prosper. With this goal in mind, the initiative to launch ‘Farmer Cards’ or Krishi Cards for farmers has been undertaken. The process of preparing lists of small, medium, marginal, landless, and large farmers is already underway. Efforts will be made to complete this work and progressively distribute the cards to farmers within the next few days.
The Prime Minister mentioned that if a farmer produces two or three crops annually, an initiative will be taken to provide fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides for at least one crop through the Krishi Card. He expressed hope that this would help reduce farmers’ production costs and financial burden.
Highlighting other benefits of the Krishi Card, Tareque Rahman stated that farmers will be able to insure their crops through this card. Additionally, they will receive assistance in obtaining bank loans.
He further added that a mobile phone-based information service will be linked with the Krishi Card. Through this, farmers will be able to know whether it will rain the following day. They will be able to decide on sowing seeds or applying fertilizers to their land according to the weather forecast.
According to the Prime Minister, there are plans to include approximately ten such benefits in the Krishi Card.