Governors of the central banks of several SAARC countries have expressed their keen interest in the credit programme for sharecroppers, introduced by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) this year to provide marginal farmers with necessary funds.

The central bank governors of Afghanistan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka have also discussed with the BB governor about getting possible assistance to replicate the programme in their respective countries, official sources told BSS in the city Tuesday.

The governors along with high officials of the central banks of the SAARC region Tuesday visited a village in Chandpur district to have a field level experience in the implementation process of the credit programme.

BB Governor Atiur Rahman briefed them on the programme, while BRAC Executive Director Mahabub Hossain described the lending procedures.

Bangladesh Bank has approved Tk 5.0 billion (500 crore) for a credit programme to help sharecroppers, who hardly get any loan from the traditional banking system.

The central bank assigned BRAC, the country's largest non-government organisation, to disburse the loan among the sharecroppers on a lower rate of interest.

Under the credit programme, 500,000 sharecroppers in 160 upazilas across the country will get soft loan facility for farming, which will eventually help increase crop production.

The SAARC central banks' chiefs praised the credit programme and sought BB's cooperation in introducing similar programmes in their countries.

The governors and high officials of SAARC central banks came to Dhaka to participate in a seminar on the roles of banking sectors in ensuring regional food securities.