Crossing the conventional banking line, a private commercial bank experimentally gave loans to maize farmers in remote areas in Lalmonirhat district in 2004. The result was excellent for both lenders and borrowers. The growers were benefitted and the bank was successful to recover 98 percent loans.
The National Credit and Commerce Bank Ltd (NCCBL) teamed up with poultry and fish feed producer Doyel Agro Industrial Complex Ltd to give loans to the farmers in Patgram upazila, mostly a tobacco producing area. Doyel Agro started an initiative in 2003 to source its main raw material, maize, from the growers.
The lending also revolutionised the farming scenario. The upazila has now become a maize producing area.
Abdul Mannan, a farmer of Mominpur village, said, "I used to cultivate tobacco, but now I grow maize. I used to make profit of Tk 4,000 to Tk 6000 by cultivating tobacco in one acre of land. But now I make profit of more than Tk 15,000 by growing maize in one acre of land. This year I have cultivated the crop in 18 acres of land."
Another farmer, Nur Alam Khandakar of Islam Nagar village, said, "As the soil in the area is sandy, a large part of the land remained uncultivated in the past. But now we can grow maize."
During a recent field visit to the area, this correspondent saw maize cultivation on hundreds of acres of land. Even the maize farming can be seen in Dahogram and Angurpota, the enclaves where there was no credit facility. Now the enclave people are getting credit facilities, thanks to the NCCBL project.
Mokhlesur Rahman, a farmer of Dahogram village, said, "Since we live in an isolated area, we did not have access to any kind of credit facilities by any organisations. As a result, we were forced to borrow from traditional moneylenders at high interest rate. Now, we get loans and we also repay."
DOYEL AGRO'S INITIATIVE
In its bid to source raw material, Doyel Agro selected Patgram upazila for maize cultivation. The company selected some farmers and provided them with training on maize cultivation. The poultry and fish feed producer then approached the NCCBL to give loan facilities to the farmers. Initially, the bank gave Tk 10,000 loan for one acre of land.
Doyel Agro became the grantor for the loan and it also took the responsibility of paying off the loan from the farmers.
Mizanul Hoque Mizan, vice chairman of Doyel Agro, said only 36 farmers used to cultivate maize in some 100 acres of land in 2002 while some 341 farmers cultivated maize in 2003.
BANKING FACILITIES
As NCCBL had no branch in Patgram, it disbursed loans among the farmers in 2004 from its Rangpur branch. However, the bank opened a branch in December, 2004. In 2005, the Patgram branch of the bank made a profit of Tk 1 lakh from its lending.
NCCBL's Managing Director Nurul Amin said if entrepreneurs come up with innovative proposals, his bank will respond positively.
