The government has decided to extend prioritised loan facility from EEF (Equity and Entrepreneurship Fund) to prawn farming in fresh water and milk production aiming to patronise the sectors, officials said.

It has also decided to increase loan facility from state-owned commercial and specialised banks for the two sectors to boost their production, they added.

 "The two sectors need patronisation considering their importance and growing demand. So, we have decided to help extend loan facility for them," a senior official at the ministry of finance told the FE.

He said both the state-owned banks and Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), the operational in-charge of the EEF have been asked to extend loan facility as much as possible to prawn farming and milk production sectors.

The official said in the recent years demand of milk has increased manifold for which a large number of farmers have set up farms for milk production. These farmers need money as working capital and to establish more farms to meet local demands of milk.

He also said shrimp farming in sweet water has started to be popular in Bangladesh. Farmers grow shrimp and paddy together at the same field in this case. The sector also needs support for thriving, he added.

Sources said in August last year the banks and financial institutions division under the ministry of finance (MoF) had asked the state owned banks and the ICB to let it know how much loans has been granted to these sectors so far and how further support can be extended.

After that the state banks and the ICB had sent the data to MoF, and the central bank for necessary actions.

The ICB also held a meeting with the stakeholders on how supports can be further extended to boost shrimp and milk production.

Based on the meeting output, opinions from stakeholder, and experts, and consulting the EEF policy the ICB suggested that EEF loan support for dairy firms can be continued and if needed number of such project approval can be increased.

It also suggested for include animal feed production projects in the EEF scheme and to grant loan to profitable concerns. The ICB also recommended for taking two plot projects for growing high quality calves which will lead increased milk production.

Besides, the ICB has suggested for extending loans to milk and milk-food processing projects to those areas where presently increased volume of milk is being produced and has well connectivity with rest of the country.

Officials said the ICB also recommended for giving utmost priority in loan sanction to those projects which intended to shrimp farming in fresh water. Besides, the entrepreneurs can be encouraged to take more such projects for fresh water prawn production.

The central bank launched the EEF in 1999 with an initial allocation of Tk 1.0 billion aiming to promote agro-based industries and ICT sector initiatives. Latter, in December 2000 the operational activity of the fund was transferred to the ICB.

Until November 2013 some Tk 24.41 billion was approved as loan in favour of 1,306 agro-based industry and Tk 1.29 billion towards 89 ICT projects.  However, during the period some Tk 8.52 billion and Tk 698 million were disbursed in favour 500 agro based and 60 ICT based projects respectively.

On the other hand, Tk 1.08 billion could be realised from 58 agro-based and Tk 149 million from 13 ICT based projects.