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Dhaka: Bangladesh will receive nearly $63 million in credit from the World Bank to improve its farming sector, a World Bank statement said.
The sum is part of a total of $188 million which the institution will lend the impoverished South Asian country over a period of 15 years, the Bank said.
The loan has 40 years to maturity with a 10-year grace period, and carries a service charge of 0.75 per cent. The loan, to be made in three stages, is an effort to improve Bangladesh's farm sector, and would focus on increasing farm sector income with the adoption of technology, the statement said.
The bank said over the last three decades, Bangladesh has seen a significant increase in the production of rice to achieve near self-sufficiency in food grains but this is being threatened by a rising population, declining land base, and stagnating yields.
Rice is the staple food of more than 140 million Bangladeshis and agriculture one of the principal sources of employment, contributing to about 22 per cent of the country's economy.
Bangladesh is facing a shortfall of up to two million tonnes of food due to spell of natural calamities last year.
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