The government is extending all-out support to the agri-entrepreneurs and providing with all sorts of stimulus packages, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Simeen Hussain (Rimi) MP said on 3 May in a training program organized for agricultural entrepreneurs at Barun High School located in Kapasia of Gazipur.

She added that young people should take this opportunity to be the agents of change in the transformation of agriculture.

United Commercial Bank PLC (UCB) has held this training under the agricultural support scheme, titled ‘Bhoroshar Notun Janala’, which is being implemented as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project in accordance with the directive of the Bangladesh Bank.

State Minister for Women and Child Affairs Simeen Hussain (Rimi) MP was present at the event as the chief guest.

ATM Tahmiduzzaman, additional managing director and company secretary, UCB PLC; Abul Alam Ferdous, additional managing director of UCB PLC; Rezaul Karim Siddique, presenter of BTV’s agriculture-based show ‘Mati O Manush’ & an agricultural analyst, were also present among other distinguished guests.

With the presence of 200 selected agri-entrepreneurs hailing from different upazilas of Gazipur, the day-long training program shed light on different important issues related to business planning, marketing, managerial skills, banking and financial aspects of agricultural enterprises, and answered the various queries of the entrepreneurs as well.

Simeen Hussain (Rimi) MP, Minister of State for Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh, opined: “Farmers are a great source of inspiration for us, so is our youth. It feels so good to see that many young entrepreneurs are nowadays getting interested in agriculture and contributing to the economy. But they need proper guidance."

Abul Alam Ferdous, additional managing director of UCB PLC, said: “Our special CSR project will open a new window of trust in the minds of agri-entrepreneurs in the country. It will help to find a way to stand by the side of the farmers involved in agriculture and inspire them.”

ATM Tahmiduzzaman, AMD of UCB, said: “Equipping the farmers and agri-entrepreneurs with the right information and knowledge is very crucial to making sure that the country is moving forward in the right direction to achieve food security. UCB aims to do that through our CSR project ‘Bhoroshar Notun Janala’ that has been designed to facilitate and empower entrepreneurs across the country.”

This is the first time in Bangladesh that any commercial bank is implementing such a project in the agriculture sector and directly helping the farmers.

Different activities including tree plantation, training for agricultural entrepreneurs and distribution of agro-related smart devices such as the AI-driven ‘Aro Maas (MoreFish)’ device have already been taken under this initiative to benefit those involved in the agri sector.

At the same time, under this project, research initiatives have been undertaken for the development of climate-smart agricultural marketing systems to improve food and nutritional security of vulnerable pastoralist households in Bangladesh.