Thirty-three years after amending the Agriculture Produce Markets Regulation Act, 1964, the government is soon going to enact the Agriculture Marketing Act, 2018. The proposed Act aims to better the marketing of agricultural products by forming marketing management committees in the districts and upazilas. At the same time, it will help in raising the purchasing power of farmers by increasing their real income and also stop the adulteration of food products as well as contain the use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture products, sources said.

The agriculture ministry is likely to place a proposal in this regard at the cabinet meeting today, the sources added. In the proposal, senior secretary of the agriculture ministry Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah said the owners of frozen foods were included in the draft Act as they can supply food products during a crisis.

“Nobody can sell and purchase agricultural products without licence as per the draft Act,” the proposal said.

“After enacting the new law, Bangladesh Agricultural Produce Market Regulation Act, 1964, the Warehouse Ordinance, 1959 would be abolished,” it added.

According to the draft Act, the government will form a central National Agriculture Marketing Coordination Committee and

coordination committees in the district

and upazila-levels to ensure a profitable

and sustainable agricultural production system.

The proposal recommends a maximum prison term of one year and a fine of Tk 2 lakh for those violating the Act.

Eight categories of food grains including paddy, rice, wheat, potato, maize and millet have been listed as Schedule-1 in the draft Agriculture Marketing Act.

Jute, tea, cotton and tobacco have been included as cash crops, while beef, buffalo meat, camel meat, mutton, sheep meat, duck, chicken, koel, pigeon, egg, milk and milk products, fur, hides and bones have been included as animal products.

Bangladesh’s economy is primarily dependent on agriculture and about 84 per cent of the total population live in rural areas and are directly or indirectly engaged in a wide range of agricultural activities.

Agriculture contributes about 32 per cent to the country’s GDP, about 23 per cent of which is contributed by the crop sector alone. About 63 per cent of the labour forces are employed in agriculture, with about 57 per cent being employed in the crop sector.