Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, an Indian Agro-machineries manufacturer, will set up an agro-machinery assembling plant in Bangladesh.   

The company managing director and CEO, Pawan Kumar Goenka, said this at a virtual conference with agriculture minister Mohammad Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday.

The Indian manufacturer will also take initiative to create trained manpower to make the use of machinery popular and facilitate its maintenance at the marginal level in Bangladesh.

The minister said the shortage of agricultural workers in Bangladesh is increasing day by day. Agro labourers are moving to other sectors, including industry, from agriculture. As a result, the cost of labour is much higher and farmers are not benefiting from agriculture.

That is why the government is putting importance on mechanisation of agriculture, he added.

''We have provided combined harvesters, reapers and other agricultural implements for the farmers this year at 50-70% subsidy at a cost of Tk200 crore,'' he said.

He said under a farm mechanisation project worth around Tk3,000 crore, the government will provide about 51,000 agro machinery for the farmers.

The country's annual agro-machinery market size is around $1.2 billion which is growing at a rate of 10% per year. There are huge opportunities for India to invest in this huge market, the agriculture minister said.

Additionally, the Indian company is also thinking of giving loans to Bangladeshi farmers to buy high priced agro-machinery, he added.

''As there is a huge potential for mechanisation in Bangladesh, Mahindra is keen to invest here,'' the minister said.

Additional secretaries of the ministry Md Hasanuzzaman Kallol and Md Abdur Rauf, Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) chairman Md Saidul Islam, Farm Equipment Sector president of Mahindra and Mahindra Hemant Sikka and its Bangladesh Country Head Robin Kumar Das, were, among others, present.