Farmers registered under the government’s Farmer Card programme will receive advance weather forecasts on their mobile phones, helping them take timely precautions against rainfall, temperature changes and other adverse weather conditions.
Under the initiative, weather updates will be sent automatically to cardholders through SMS every six hours under normal conditions, with more frequent alerts during disasters and severe weather events.
The facility is being introduced as part of the government’s Farmer Card programme, which will provide farmers with 10 types of services, including agricultural input assistance, low-interest loans, irrigation facilities and crop insurance.
The BNP-led government, headed by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, has set a target of bringing around 24 million farmers across the country under the programme over the next four years.
Agricultural production in Bangladesh is heavily dependent on weather conditions. Irregular rainfall, excessive downpours, droughts, temperature fluctuations and storms frequently pose risks to crops and agricultural activities.
Timely weather forecasts will help farmers make informed decisions on cultivation, irrigation, fertiliser application, pesticide use and harvesting.
The automated SMS-based alert system is expected to play an important role in delivering weather-related information directly to farmers in the field, eliminating the need for them to seek out forecasts themselves.
For instance, advance warnings of rainfall during the harvesting season will allow farmers to harvest and safely store their crops in time. Similarly, rainfall forecasts will help them plan irrigation more efficiently, reducing water consumption and production costs.
Warnings of storms and other severe weather events will also enable farmers to take measures to protect their crops, agricultural equipment and other assets.
The Agriculture Information Service (AIS) under the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) will implement the initiative by disseminating automated weather alerts to farmers through SMS.
The government is implementing the Farmer Card programme to bring farmers under an integrated database and streamline the delivery of agricultural support and government services.
A key objective of the initiative is to identify genuine farmers and simplify their access to government assistance. Accordingly, data collection and verification, opening of bank accounts and distribution of cards are progressing in phases.
According to official data, the distribution of Farmer Cards to 4.3 million farmers is underway during the current 2026-27 fiscal year. Data collection activities have progressed in 1,681 agricultural blocks across 503 upazilas in 64 districts.
So far, information on 2.2 million farmers has been collected from these blocks, while 900,000 bank accounts linked to Farmer Cards have been opened.
On October 1, the programme’s activities were launched simultaneously in 77 upazilas across 56 districts. Under this phase, steps have been taken to bring 110,165 farmers under the programme, including 100,047 farmers identified to receive agricultural input assistance.
Earlier, during a pre-piloting programme conducted from March to June this year, 20,832 farmers received cards in 11 agricultural blocks across 11 upazilas in 10 districts.
During that phase, financial incentives amounting to Tk 5.12 crore were distributed among 20,480 landless, marginal and small farmers at an annual rate of Tk 2,500 per farmer.
The Programme on Agricultural and Rural Transformation for Nutrition, Entrepreneurship and Resilience in Bangladesh (PARTNER) project is playing a key role in implementing the initiative at the field level.
Deputy Programme Director of the project Md. Rakibuzzaman Khan told BSS that efforts were underway to modernise agriculture by collecting accurate information about farmers and assessing their needs.
He said a reliable database would facilitate need-based training, the introduction of modern technologies, increased agricultural productivity and the development of agri-entrepreneurs.
Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Farmer Card Cell Md. Eaasin told BSS that the main objective of the programme was to maintain accurate records of farmers and make government assistance more efficient and accessible.
He said data collection, verification, bank account opening and card distribution were being carried out through coordinated efforts.
Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Md. Selim Khan said the automatic delivery of weather alerts to farmers’ mobile phones would add a new dimension to the integrated service system.
He said the facility would enable farmers to plan their agricultural activities in line with weather forecasts and take advance preparations against potential risks.
Given the significant impact of weather conditions on agricultural yields, timely access to information was crucial for farmers, he said, adding that real-time updates would help them make informed decisions about crop management, irrigation, fertiliser application and harvesting.
The Agriculture Secretary also said that, in line with the government’s plan, all districts, upazilas and agricultural blocks across the country would gradually be brought under the Farmer Card programme.
