By Sahadat Hossain:Farmers remain the backbone of Bangladesh’s economy, yet they continue to face chronic challenges: fluctuating market prices, rising production costs, recurring natural disasters, high irrigation expenses, and limited access to financial protection. These barriers hinder the stability and long-term sustainability of the agricultural sector.
Against this reality, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has put forward an ambitious digital initiative-the “Farmer Card”-to be implemented if the party forms the next government. Far beyond a simple identification tool, the proposed card aims to function as a comprehensive digital platform ensuring transparency, easy access to government services, and economic empowerment for crop farmers, livestock producers, and fish farmers across the country.
A Digital Breakthrough for Agricultural Services: The Farmer Card will consolidate all agricultural services under one unified digital identity. It aims to eliminate intermediaries, reduce bureaucratic delays, and ensure that every government benefit-from subsidies to emergency relief-reaches farmers directly and efficiently.
Fair Prices for Fertilizer, Seeds, and Pesticides: Farmers often struggle with inflated input prices due to market manipulation and product adulteration. Through the Farmer Card, holders will receive fertilizer, seeds, and pesticides at government-fixed fair prices, reducing production costs and enhancing yield stability.
Direct Delivery of Subsidies and Incentives: Leakages and delays in subsidy disbursement have long undermined farmers’ confidence. The Farmer Card will introduce a digital payment system, ensuring that subsidies, incentives, and disaster compensation reach farmers’ bank or mobile accounts without intermediaries. This will improve accountability and speed in government support.
Affordable Access to Modern Mechanization: Despite the country’s progress in agricultural mechanization, many small and marginal farmers cannot afford access to advanced machinery. To address this, Mechanized Service Centers will be established at the union level, where farmers can rent harvesters, tillers, seeders, and other equipment at subsidized rates. This will significantly reduce time, labor, and operating costs in farming.
Irrigation Support Made Efficient and Affordable: Irrigation is one of the largest expenses for farmers in Bangladesh. The Farmer Card initiative envisions special subsidies for irrigation, Priority access to solar-powered pumping systems, Transparent and standardized irrigation service fees. These reforms will bring down irrigation costs, increasing farmers’ overall profitability.
Simplified Loans and Comprehensive Insurance Coverage: Access to loans remains a challenge for many farmers due to collateral requirements and administrative complexity. The Farmer Card will allow farmers to access agricultural credit under simpler, farmer-friendly terms. Most importantly, the initiative expands insurance coverage beyond crops. Cardholders will be eligible for compensation under an integrated insurance program covering:
-Crop loss due to flood, drought, pests, or disease
-Livestock losses arising from disease, natural disasters, or sudden death
-Fishery losses caused by disease outbreaks, water contamination, or climatic events
This comprehensive insurance system will protect farmers, fishers, and livestock producers from financial shocks-making Bangladesh’s agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture sectors more resilient than ever before.
A Fairer Marketplace for Farmers: Ensuring fair prices remains a major challenge. The Farmer Card will allow the government to purchase produce directly from farmers. Additionally, a digital agricultural marketplace will connect farmers with buyer’s nationwide, minimizing exploitation by intermediaries. Daily prices, demand trends, and market information will be directly accessible via mobile phones.
Promoting Knowledge-Driven, Climate-Smart Agriculture: Cardholders will receive regular training on smart farming, crop and livestock management, aquaculture practices, climate resilience, and modern technologies. They will also gain access to weather forecasts, pest and disease diagnostics, expert consultations, daily market updates. Fish farmers and livestock producers will benefit equally from these digital advisory services.
A Vision Rooted in Equity and Empowerment: If effectively implemented, the Farmer Card could become one of the most transformative agricultural reforms in Bangladesh’s history. Built on transparency, digital governance, and farmer-centered service delivery, it aims to restore dignity, security, and economic opportunity to rural communities. When farmers prosper, Bangladesh prospers. The Farmer Card stands as a bold and forward-looking step toward an inclusive and resilient agricultural future.
-Writer General Secretary, Agriculturists’ Association of Bangladesh-AAB Dhaka District Chapter.
