Farmers not getting fertiliser as needed despite higher prices

Nazmul Hossain, a farmer from Kichak Union in Shibganj, Bogura, is cultivating Aman rice on 10 bighas of land this year. His seedlings are now one month old, and he needs to apply fertiliser to the fields at this stage.

To buy three sacks each of urea, TSP and MOP fertiliser, he went to the local Kichak market on Tuesday morning. However, he could not obtain even a single sack from the government-appointed distributor (dealer).

Nazmul Hossain then visited retail fertiliser shops in the market. At Mehedi Traders and Mohona Traders, retailers were asking Tk 1,850 for a 50kg sack of TSP, Tk 1,170 for MOP, Tk1,430 for urea and Tk1,600 for DAP. Each price was Tk 500 higher per sack than the government-fixed rate.

Although Nazmul was willing to buy fertiliser at those prices, the retailers refused to sell him more than one sack. The farmer from Jhalkhur village eventually returned home empty-handed without buying any fertiliser.

Farmers now need fertiliser for their Aman rice fields. Like Nazmul, thousands of farmers are visiting distributors' shops but still cannot buy the quantities they need. Most distributors are reporting shortages of fertiliser.

Moslem Uddin, owner of Mohona Traders in Kichak market and a BADC distributor, told Prothom Alo over the phone on Tuesday, "I had to buy urea at a higher price from a dealer in Bogura. As a result, I had to sell the fertiliser above the fixed price. I admit that this was a mistake."

A field-level inspection in Bogura's Shibganj, Shajahanpur and Sherpur upazilas on Tuesday found that one shop had urea but no TSP (triple superphosphate), while another had TSP but no DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) or MOP (muriate of potash). In shops where fertiliser was available, farmers had to pay higher prices and still could not obtain the quantities they needed.

Morshed Milton, president of the Bogura district unit of the Bangladesh Fertiliser Association, an organisation representing fertiliser traders and distributors, said the district was facing a fertiliser shortage because allocations were lower than demand. He is also a ruling-party member of parliament from Bogura-7.

He told Prothom Alo on Tuesday, "In August, the district received an allocation of 10,618 metric tonnes of urea, 3,611 metric tonnes of DAP, 2,304 metric tonnes of TSP and 3,910 metric tonnes of MOP for Robi crops and Aman cultivation. It is not possible to meet farmers' demand with this allocation. In this situation, we have submitted a written letter to the government through the deputy commissioner, seeking an additional allocation of 5,000 metric tonnes of urea and a total additional allocation of 12,000 metric tonnes, comprising 4,000 metric tonnes each of DAP, MOP and TSP."

However, Sohel Md Shamsuddin Firoz, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Bogura, claimed that the market had an adequate supply of fertiliser.

He told Prothom Alo, "At present, farmers are buying more fertiliser than the quantity they actually need. This has created a somewhat uncomfortable situation in fertiliser management. To bring the situation under control, mobile courts are being conducted, while the overall situation is also being closely monitored."

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, the district has set a target of cultivating Aman rice on 183,504 hectares of land this season. In addition, the target for potato cultivation in the upcoming season stands at around 55,000 hectares.

An investigation found that the government has fixed the price of urea and TSP fertiliser at Tk 27 per kilogramme. However, retailers are selling the fertiliser to farmers at Tk 30–35 per kilogramme. Meanwhile, MOP fertiliser, whose official price is Tk 20 per kilogramme, is selling for Tk 24–26.

At around 1 pm on Tuesday, a visit to Bashar Traders, a BCIC distributor at Noymile Bazar in Shajahanpur upazila, found a large crowd of farmers waiting to buy fertiliser. However, the distributor's shop had no fertiliser other than urea.

Aman farmer Din Mohammad, 55, said he had planted Aman seedlings on 10 bighas of land. He now needs five sacks each of urea, TSP and DAP fertiliser. He said, “For five days, I’ve been going from one market to another looking for fertiliser. I still haven’t been able to get any. If I cannot apply fertiliser to the Aman rice, I won’t get a crop and will have nothing to eat.”

BCIC distributor Abul Bashar told Prothom Alo that the fertiliser allocation he received this month was inadequate compared with demand. His warehouse currently has only 66 sacks of urea and no other type of fertiliser.

The warehouse of HS Traders, owned by Enamul Haque, general secretary of the Bogura district unit of the Fertiliser Association, is located at Darigacha Bazar in Kharna Union of Shajahanpur upazila. Farmers were also visiting the warehouse seeking fertiliser, but it had no TSP.

Enamul Haque told Prothom Alo that his warehouse currently had 675 sacks of urea, 105 sacks of potash and 145 sacks of DAP. There was no TSP in the warehouse, as the allocated fertiliser had already been sold.

Abdur Rahim, a farmer from Gopalpur village in Sherpur upazila, told Prothom Alo that he had cultivated Aman rice on 10 bighas of land. He now needs 10 sacks each of urea and potash fertiliser. After repeatedly visiting the dealer, he managed to buy only two sacks each of urea and potash.

However, Md Toufikur Rahman, president of the district Fertiliser and Seed Monitoring Committee and Bogura Deputy Commissioner, claimed that sufficient fertiliser was available in Bogura.

He said, “If anyone sells fertiliser at inflated prices or smuggles it elsewhere, the agricultural authorities are maintaining strict surveillance, alongside conducting mobile court operations when necessary. There is no fertiliser shortage anywhere in the district. However, instead of buying fertiliser from authorised distributors in markets farther away, farmers often purchase it from retail shops near their homes at higher prices. If anyone sells fertiliser at an inflated price, strict legal action will be taken.”