"We have targeted to bring 52 lakh hectares of land under Aman plantation this year across the country and we have almost achieved it," he said while replying to supplementary questions raised by Jatiya Party lawmaker Golam Habib Dulal in the Jatiya Sangsad.

Responding to a question from Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Abdus Subhan, the agriculture minister said the government has increased subsidy and other facilities in the agriculture sector to further boost crop production.

"Of all the facilities, subsidy in agriculture sector has been raised from Tk 100 crore to Tk 1200 crore during the last five years of this government. As a result, 26.71 million tonnes of crops were produced in 2004-2005 fiscal year and 28.00 million tonnes in 2005-06 fiscal year," he said.

MK Anwar also told Abdus Subhan that 30 percent cash incentive was given in exporting agricultural goods while, he told BNP lawmaker Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anny, the rate of interest on agricultural loans was brought down to 8 percent from the earlier 11 percent.

Giving details, the agriculture minister said the government has fixed interest rate on loans at 2 percent from 8 percent on 15 crops to encourage farmers to increase production of pulses, oilseeds and spices in the country.

Replying to another question from Delwar Hossain Sayidee, MK Anwar said Tk 1200 crore subsidy would be given in urea, TSP, DAP, MOP and sugarcane cultivation during the current fiscal year.

On another question, the minister informed the house that four more cold storage would be set up in the country under a project being implemented by Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) to preserve potato seeds.

Under this project, he said, these cold storage would be set up in Comilla, Meherpur, Dinajpur and Satkhira respectively. The capacity of each cold storage is 1,000 tonnes, he added.