BSS)- Agriculture and, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Mohammed Aminur Rashid today said a total of 43 lakh farmers will receive Farmer Card this year.

On the opening day of the pilot phase, 100,047 farmers will get input incentives under the farmer card programme, he said while briefing journalists today after inspecting the venue of the programme at Phulgazi Government Pilot High School grounds in Feni district, where the Prime Minister will distribute `Family Card, Farmer Card, and honoraria for imams of mosques, priests of temples, and persons of other religious places of worship.`

The minister said after the pre-pilot phase of the farmer card was successfully completed, work began this year on creating a database of 43 lakh farmers in the pilot phase. In the first phase, 110,165 farmers are being brought under the farmer card and among them, tomorrow (100,047 farmers will receive Tk 2,500 each as agricultural input assistance.

A total of 7,643 farmers in Feni district will receive printed copies of farmer cards, he added.

Tomorrow`s programme will include 77 upazilas of 56 districts across the country and among them, 13 upazilas will have direct connections, and the remaining 64 upazilas will also be connected.

Aminur Rashid also said that there is a plan to deliver farmer card to all farmers in the country from the next two and a half to three years.

He said, through the farmer card programme, initiatives have been taken to provide assistance to farmers in purchasing agricultural inputs and to deliver government support for the development of the agriculture sector to farmers more easily.