The last harvest saw a high yield of crops, especially Aman, since farmers had access to fertilizer, seeds and other materials at fixed prices despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and floods. This year, flash floods caused trouble to farmers in several northern districts during Aman harvest and then came the bigger problem – growing prices of urea fertiliser.
News on the rising price of urea fertiliser in four districts appeared in Prothom Alo on Sunday, 19 September. The price of fertiliser reportedly reached its peak in Jahsore. The government set the price of a 50kg bag of urea at Tk 800 but it is being sold at Tk 50-400 higher than the fixed price. Farmers in Faridpur said they purchased a sack of urea for Tk 900. They had to spend Tk 18 a kg instead of Tk 16.
Farmers in Nagaon said dealers increased the price by Tk 60-120 per sack of urea. And farmers in Tangail are in a dilemma. There is, on the one hand, the growing price of the fertiliser and, on the other, urea falls short of two kg a sack.
Other than these four districts, urea is allegedly being sold at a higher prices in many districts including Gazipur, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Panchagarh, Meherpur and Kushtia. If fertiliser is spread on the field one or two days later than required, it doesn’t produce expected results. So, farmers are compelled to purchase fertiliser at a higher price.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), there is a demand of 500,000 tonnes of urea across the country during Aman harvest. And September sees the maximum use of 196,000 tonnes urea. As of Saturday, 18 September, 110,000 tonnes of urea were allocated and it is necessary to know when the allocation of the remaining fertiliser will be made. If the supply of fertiliser required for Aman harvesting is ample, dealers will not have the opportunity to create an artificial crisis.
One of the main reasons for price hike is to give dealership on political consideration. Nowadays, everything from the contract of a bridge construction to the dealership is offered to party men. People from all strata including farmers are being deprived of services because of this political practice. And the local administration dares say nothing to party men.
If farmers purchase fertiliser at a higher price, their production costs will go up. As a result, price of paddy will rise and the final burden will fall on consumers. So, the DAE should strengthen monitoring on dealers and take legal action against dealers selling fertiliser at a higher price, even cancel their dealership, if necessary. There is no way to avoid the responsibility by claiming no complaint was received or the price was supposed to rise.