24 million farmer cards will be issued over four years

Bangla Press Desk: The BNP government, led by Prime Minister Tareq Rahman, is implementing a large-scale program aimed at registering the nation's farmers, providing support for agricultural inputs, and distributing 'Farmer Cards' (Krishak Card) across the country in phases.

The program sets a target to bring approximately 24 million (2.4 crore) farmers under its ambit over the next four years. In the current 2026-27 fiscal year, efforts are underway to include 4.3 million (43 lakh) farmers in the Farmer Card program.

The initiative is planned to be implemented across 14,180 agricultural blocks, spanning 503 upazilas in 64 districts. Activities such as collecting farmer data, opening bank accounts, distributing cards through a pre-piloting phase, and providing agricultural input support are already in progress.

On October 1, the program was launched simultaneously across 77 upazilas in 56 districts. The Farmer Card program aims to create an integrated database of farmers and facilitate the delivery of financial and agricultural input support to them.

In the initial phase, special emphasis is being placed on landless, marginal, and small-scale farmers. The program aims to incorporate approximately 24 million farmers over the next four years.

To implement this extensive program, there is a plan to gradually integrate all districts, upazilas, and agricultural blocks across the country. Data collection for the nationwide inclusion of farmers has already commenced.

According to available data, progress has been made in 1,681 agricultural blocks across 503 upazilas in 64 districts. So far, information from 1.925 million (19.25 lakh) farmers has been collected in these blocks, and 900,000 (9 lakh) bank accounts linked to the Farmer Card have been opened.

The collection of farmer data and the opening of bank accounts constitute a crucial part of the program's initial implementation phase. Plans are in place to subsequently expand the distribution of Farmer Cards in a phased manner.

As part of evaluating the implementation process and conducting preliminary operations, a pre-piloting phase was carried out from March to June of this year. During this phase, Farmer Cards were distributed to 20,832 farmers across 11 agricultural blocks, located in 11 upazilas within 10 districts across the country's eight divisions. On April 14, 2026—the first day of the Bengali New Year—a pre-pilot phase for the distribution of 'Farmer Cards' was officially inaugurated in Tangail Sadar Upazila. Subsequently, the program was implemented in the designated areas.

Under this pre-pilot phase, financial incentives were provided to 20,480 landless, marginal, and small-scale farmers. A total of 51.2 million (5.12 crore) BDT was distributed, with each farmer receiving 2,500 BDT annually.

Following the experience gained from this pre-pilot phase, initiatives were taken to expand the program to a wider area. As part of this, the program was launched simultaneously across selected upazilas in various districts of the country in October.

On October 1, 2026, the Farmer Card program was launched virtually across 77 upazilas in 56 districts. For this phase, one agricultural block was selected from each upazila, bringing the total number of participating agricultural blocks to 77.

In this phase, the program aims to include 110,165 farmers, including 7,643 farmers from six upazilas in Feni district.

In addition to expanding the Farmer Card program, plans have been made to provide agricultural input support in the selected areas, with priority given to landless, marginal, and small-scale farmers.

According to program data, 100,047 farmers are covered under this agricultural input support initiative—comprising 7,153 farmers from six upazilas in Feni district and 92,894 farmers from the remaining 55 districts.

The Farmer Card program involves both the collection of farmers' data and the opening of bank accounts. To date, data has been collected from 1,925,000 farmers, and 900,000 bank accounts linked to the Farmer Card have been opened.

Data collection has progressed across 1,681 agricultural blocks in 503 upazilas across 64 districts—a crucial step in preparing for the nationwide implementation of the program.

Achieving the goal of including approximately 24 million (2.4 crore) farmers over four years will require the collection and management of data for a vast number of farmers. In this context, it is important to consistently monitor the progress of data collection, registration, bank account opening, and card distribution under this program.

Rather than implementing the 'Farmer Card' program simultaneously across all agricultural blocks in the country, a phased expansion plan has been adopted. Initially, 7,643 'Farmer Cards' will be distributed among farmers in six agricultural blocks located across six upazilas of Feni district.

The plan aims to eventually cover 64 districts, 503 upazilas, and 14,180 agricultural blocks nationwide. To meet the target of including approximately 24 million (2.4 crore) farmers over four years, the program will be expanded in various stages.

A target has been set to include 4.3 million (43 lakh) farmers in the current 2026-27 fiscal year. Up-to-date data on farmer registration, card distribution, the opening of bank accounts, and the provision of agricultural input support will play a crucial role in evaluating progress toward this goal.

According to available information, the 'Farmer Card' program is designed to bring a large number of farmers across the country under a unified, integrated framework. By leveraging insights gained during the initial phase and aligning the expansion of card distribution with the operational capacities of the participating banks, the program is set to be rolled out nationwide.