Bank loan disbursement to poultry, livestock rises

Banks disbursed a higher amount of loans to the poultry and livestock sector in the first seven months of the current fiscal year compared to the same period a year ago, according to data by Bangladesh Bank.

In the seven months ending with January, the share of poultry and livestock in total farm loans of Tk 18,684 crore rose 21 per cent from 17 per cent during the same period the previous year.

Poultry and livestock producers got Tk 3,923 crore in loans in the July-January period this fiscal, which was 35 per cent higher from the same months a year ago, shows monthly report on agriculture and rural finance released yesterday.

Apart from the livestock sector, farmers borrowed more to grow crops this fiscal year as the share of the crop sector in overall farm credit grew 0.3 percentage points to 47.6 per cent in the first seven months of this fiscal year.

Banks financed Tk 8,893 crore during the period while it was Tk 8,067 crore a year ago, according to the data.

However, the disbursement of funds for poverty alleviation declined as a percentage of the total agricultural credit given by banks.

Central bank data shows that private banks' share in farm loan disbursement rose in the current fiscal year while the share of other category lenders, including specialised and state-owned commercial banks, declined.

Private Banks disbursed 56.5 per cent of the Tk 18,684 crore loans disbursed during the July-January period of the fiscal year.

In the previous fiscal, the share of private banks in agricultural loan disbursement was 54.8 per cent.

By contrast, the share of specialised banks declined to 30.5 per cent during the period, down from 30.5 per cent the same period a year ago.

State commercial banks disbursed 9.5 per cent of the total loans to crop, poultry, livestock and other areas.

The share of state banks in farm loan disbursement was 9.7 per cent in the first seven months of fiscal year 2021-22.

Foreign banks lent 3.5 per cent of the total farm loans in the July-January period of the current year, down from 3.6 per cent a year ago, as per the data.

For the current fiscal year, Bangladesh Bank has fixed the target for agricultural credit disbursement at TK 30,911 crore, which is nearly 9 per cent higher from the Tk 28,391 crore targeted last fiscal year.

During the July-January period of the current fiscal year, banks finances to the farm sector grew 10 per cent year-on-year from Tk 17,055 crore a year ago.

The central bank data shows that recovery of agricultural credit grew 7.8 per cent to Tk 2,016 crore in January this year compared to a year ago.