Farmers’ banks are for farmers. But if they do not get the desired benefits from the bank that has been established for their welfare, the specialization of this banking system loses its purpose. This was rightly highlighted at a day-long half-yearly performance evaluation meeting of all zonal managers of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) at the training institute of the bank at Rajshahi recently.

For a country, where rural economy is dominated by agriculture, the need for creating farmers-friendly banking service cannot be overemphasized. This is not only true for the banks that are exclusively created for farmers, but to commercial banks also, if farmers approach for loan service or others they should be given priority.

As agriculture is still one of the mainstays of the country’s overall economy, there is a great need to help farmers in all possible ways. The food demand is increasing with rising number of population in the country. Even when the country needs more agricultural production, its land resources are very limited.

Therefore, farmers have to be encouraged to make best use of their lands in terms of agricultural output. To make this attainable for farmers, farmers need generous financial help. But if the loan officers of farmers’ banks do not help them through creating unnecessary bureaucratic hassles, they would not be able to buy the necessary agricultural inputs in time, resulting in loss of production.

That is why the speakers at the Rajshahi programme rightly pointed out that all the credit programmes of the bank should be need-oriented and emphasis should be given on reaching banking services to the farmers’ doorsteps. We have also seen how the government’s progragmme of Tk-10 bank accounts for farmers are helping farmers. Taking collateral-free loan using this account, many farmers reportedly reaped benefits. The point here is, for making country’s agricultural economy vibrant, we should not expect that farmers would run bank after bank for loan, but rather the situation should be banks should go to the potential farmers who need loan to facilitate cultivation.

Indeed, farmers of the northwest part of the country, known as Barind region, need special care. That is why it is necessary to bring all the existing potential sectors and sub-sectors of agriculture and their processing under qualitative and quantitative financing for the agriculture of this region, as the experts in the field say.