Bogura BSCIC continues producing agricultural tools

Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in Bogura is continuing production of agricultural tools considering the increasing demand in Boro season. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, 35 industrial factories of BSCIC were operating to produce different equipment that are exported to India, Nepal and Bhutan after fulfilling local demand. Bogura BSCIC Estate official AKM Mahfuzur Rahman said they meet almost 70 percent demand of agricultural tools in the country.

Considering the growing demands of different sectors including agriculture, they are making centrifugal pump, piston, tube-well, CNG auto-rickshaw, retail machineries of jute mills, break drum of motorcycles, nuts and other light instruments, he said. Each year, Bogura BSCIC Estate which employs around 10,000 people provide Tk 163 crore to the government as revenue, he added. Boro is grown from December to mid-March and harvest goes on from April to June. Boro paddy supplies more than half of the country’s total rice production throughout the year.

Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque last week said 75 percent Boro paddy in the country’s vulnerable areas have been harvested. He noted that various international organisations have predicted food crisis or famine in near future. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly instructed increasing agricultural production. She is urging to cultivate crops in every inch of land,” Razzaque said.

Meanwhile, two more people died from coronavirus in the last 24 hours till Friday, taking the death toll in the country to 170. The health authorities confirmed 571 new cases as the total number soared to 8,231.