Although the Ministry of Agriculture is doing better in implementation of the Annual Development Programme (ADP), the progress in its 13 projects was about 25 percent lower during the July-March period of the current fiscal compared to its overall progress of 54 percent.
The overall implementation progress of the ADP in the first three quarters (July-March) of the current fiscal year (2012-13) reached 49 percent, 4 percent higher than the one achieved during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal (2011-12).
Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture said the progress of the ministry during the July-March period reached 54 percent having an expenditure of Tk 663.15 crore against the allocation of Tk 1,230.07 crore.
There are currently 65 projects under the Ministry of Agriculture having allocations in the ADP of current fiscal. Of these 65 projects, 54 are investment ones, four are technical and seven are from the Japan Debt Cancellation Fund (JDCF).
Of this, the implementation progress of GoB funded projects of the ministry fared better as those notched 60 percent (Tk 523.59 crore) while the aided projects 39 percent (Tk 139.56 crore).
During the nine-month period of current fiscal year, the official said, the progress of 13 projects reached 29 percent or Tk 109.47 crore against the overall allocation of Tk 373.26 crore against these projects. The allocation against these 13 projects also represents 30 percent of the ministry’s overall ADP allocation.
These slow-paced 13 projects include establishment of Kurigram integrated seed cold storage project 25 percent (Tk 2.98 crore), introduction of digital agricultural information and rural living standard improvement project through agriculture information and service center 21 percent (Tk 1.05 crore), Mujibnagar integrated agriculture development project 21 percent (Tk 0.95 crore), establishment of Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh Complex project 33 percent (Tk 16.54 crore), jute related basic and applied research project 28 percent ( Tk 5.60 crore), food security through enhanced agricultural production diversified sources of income value addition and marketing 35 percent (Tk 4.49 crore), food security programme 2006, soil fertility component 28 percent (Tk 3.56 crore).
Agriculture and rural development project in greater Rangpur district 36 percent (Tk 2.43 crore), training of farmers for handing over technology at upazila level 39 percent (Tk 9.69 crore), upgrading Araihazar horticulture center to agriculture training institute 39 percent (Tk 3.15 crore) and integrated forests development project 43 percent (Tk 4.76 crore).
Talking to UNB, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture said that the Ministry in its recent ADP Review meeting expressed satisfaction over the implementation progress and hoped that the progress in the current year would not be less than the previous year.
The meeting also noted that the donor-assisted projects witnessed slow progress due to the various conditions imposed by the donors as well as delay in decision making process.
The official also informed that the 15 projects of the ministry that got bigger allocations witnessed an implementation progress of 48 percent having an expenditure of Tk 353.74 crore against the allocation of Tk 736.36 crore.
According to the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), the overall expenditure during the July-March period of current fiscal was Tk 27,219 crore, up Tk 6,602 crore compared to Tk 20,617 crore during the corresponding period of fiscal 2011-12.
Of the total expenditure, the share of the project assistance was Tk 9,110 crore (42 percent) as against Tk 6,129 crore (33 percent) during the same period of the previous fiscal.
The share of the local funding was Tk 18,109 crore (54 percent). About Tk 21,994 crore, 66 percent of the allocation, was released during the July-March period. The size of the ADP allocation in the current fiscal is Tk 55,000 crore.
The RADP implementation rate of last fiscal year reached 93 percent as the expenditure reached Tk 38,022.76 crore out of the RADP allocation of Tk 41,080.00 crore. The actual ADP outlay of the last year was Tk 46,000 crore.
Source: UNB Connect
