Dhaka, Nov. 20 -- Saddam Ali, a small farmer in Nilphamari's Sadar Upazila, is not interested in taking a loan from the bank. He needs a loan of Tk 20,000, but the bank does not want to give a loan for such a small amount of money. Moreover, the process requires a lot of paperwork.

If he wanted to persist in obtaining the loan, he would have to hire a broker and spend another Tk 2,000 - 3,000, reports bdnews24.com.

Millions of small farmers, like Saddam, are feeding the people of Bangladesh by keeping agriculture alive. But they have been unable to make use of the government initiative to borrow from banks at lower interest rate. The benefits of these accommodations is, instead, going to large farmers and traders.

Fakir Mahitul Islam, ...