Govt ‘Sadai’ app launched for marketing agro products

'Sadai', a Bengali language mobile app arranged by the government, has been launched on Wednesday for marketing agricultural products for the consumers across the country.

Agriculture Minister Dr M AbdurRazzaque inaugurated the mobile app for the first time of this kind in the country at the agriculture ministry conference room in Dhaka.

Terming the app as an ‘epoch-making’ initiative, the agriculture minister said, “The successful implementation of the app will help ensure quality of the agricultural produces, fair prices for the farmers and minimize manipulation of the middlemen.”

At the same time, the app will also help curb fraudulence along with availability of safe and toxic-free products for the consumers, the minister told the inaugural function.

Sadai, implemented by the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, will directly connect the growers with the consumers and the DAM will monitor quality and marketing of the goods under the platform.

The DAM will fix the product price and also operate a call center for receiving any allegations regarding the products and take actions, including cancellation of registration of the entrepreneurs if necessary.

Growers and entrepreneurs will get an opportunity of commission-free selling of their goods after getting free registration under the platform. The app also gives an opportunity of mobile banking payment and cash-on delivery payment options, even verifying of product price and tracking facilities also have been included in the app.

DrRazzaque said the productions of all the agricultural products including rice, wheat, maize, vegetables and fruits have been increased in many folds in the country, saying, “But now the marketing of these products is a big challenge.”

In most of the cases, he said, the growers even could not sell their products and they didn’t get fair price of their products. So, the Sadai app will work to ensure fair price for the producers and also ensure accurate price, safe and contamination-free products for the consumers as well, the minister said, noting the objective of the app.

Chaired by senior agriculture secretary M Meshbahul Islam, the function was also addressed, among others, by DAM’s Director General Mohammad Yousuf, Additional Secretary HasanuzzamanKallol, Additional Secretary M Ruhul Amin Talukder and Additional Secretary Kamlaranjan Das.

DAM’s Assistant Director BayejidBostami gave an introduction of the Sadai app at the function.

The Sadai app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.