Global Journal of Management and Business Research, B: Economics and Commerce, Volume 21 Issue 5

visible – the daily star reports that despite bumper production of fruits, growers are incurring losses as the price has fallen drastically in the local markets of the districts due to the outbreak. Lockdown strategies entail a number of protective measures to reduce the Covid- 19 infection. This includes border closures, travel restrictions, restaurant closures, and trade disruptions etc. There is a deep cut in the price of products because of low demand. As cost of production is high but price of the product is low, so farmers incur loss. A study conducted by BIGD in June 2020 shown that because of the pandemic, Boro farmers lost seven percent of their estimated yield in 2020 which nationally amount to 4.82 crore mounds, equivalent to BDT 3,687 crore. Because of the labour shortage, labour wage went up by 17 percent. The cost of other inputs also increased because of disrupted transportation. As a result Boro farmers faced a 40 percent loss in expected profit. So due to outbreak of the Novel Corona Virus, it is necessary to provide agricultural loan at low interest rate for continuing food production and food supply at normal level. With this view banks are instructed through the ACD circular -02 dated; 27 April 2020 to provide agricultural loan at 4 percent concessional rate (maximum) for cultivating grain crops, cash crops, vegetables and tuber crops as mentioned in agricultural and rural credit policy program. Against the disbursement of these loans, banks will be reimbursed at 5.0 percent as interest loss from Bangladesh Bank. These facilities will be continued up to 30 June 2021 effective from 1 April 2020. IV. M ethodology of T his S tudy This study has been done mainly based on secondary data. The relevant data and informations were collected from annual reports of Bangladesh bank and websites of various bank on Bangladesh, Bangladesh Economic Review (BER) and Bangladesh Bureau of statistics ( BBS) publication of various years. In this study we analyze data for the period 2001 to 2020. The data analysis includes the view point of lenders, agricultural sub- sector, overall agricultural credit performance etc. MS excel software was used for analyzing and presenting data in a meaningful way. V. A nalysis and F inding Table 1: Comparative analysis of target and actual disbursement; recovery; outstanding; overdue and overdue as percentage of outstanding of agricultural credit during 2001-20 (Tk in Billions) Year Disbursement (Target) Disbursement (Actual) Gap/ Achievement % Recovery Total Outstanding loan Overdue Overdue as Percent of outstanding 2001 32.66 30.20 92.47 28.78 111.37 67.59 60.69 2002 33.30 29.60 88.89 32.60 115.00 67.60 58.80 2003 35.61 32.78 92.05 35.16 119.13 65.26 54.78 2004 43.79 40.48 92.44 31.35 127.06 62.65 49.31 2005 55.38 49.57 89.51 31.71 140.40 57.81 41.18 2006 58.92 54.90 93.18 41.64 153.76 66.50 43.27 2007 63.51 52.93 83.34 46.76 145.82 66.35 45.50 2008 69.75 61.67 88.42 43.75 158.49 58.37 36.83 2009 74.66 69.92 93.65 66.14 171.70 60.49 35.23 2010 84.53 82.79 97.94 76.51 199.61 63.66 31.89 2011 89.86 92.10 102.50 89.19 225.99 59.72 26.43 2012 138.00 131.32 95.16 123.59 259.75 60.52 23.30 2013 141.30 146.67 103.80 143.62 310.58 52.09 16.77 2014 145.95 160.37 109.90 170.46 346.84 76.12 21.95 2015 155.50 159.78 102.80 154.07 329.37 67.29 20.43 2016 164.00 176.46 107.60 170.56 344.77 56.78 16.47 2017 175.50 209.99 119.65 188.41 390.48 67.08 17.18 2018 204.00 213.93 104.87 215.03 406.01 72.11 17.8 2019 218.00 236.16 108.33 237.34 429.01 69.9 15.6 2020 241.0 227.5 94.32 212.5 455.9 60.6 13.3 Source: Bangladesh Bank Annual Report (2001-2020). Contribution of Banks on Agricultural Development in Bangladesh © 2021 Global Journals 75 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXI Issue V Version I Year 2021 ( ) B