More land, less fertiliser: Distribution problems and lack of coordination in Rowmari

As there has been no flooding this year, the area under rice cultivation in Rowmari upazila of Kurigram has increased by 1,625 hectares. However, fertiliser allocations have not increased accordingly. Supply, meanwhile, remains below demand.

Fertiliser allocations are also determined on a union-by-union basis without taking into account the number of farmers. In addition, there is a lack of coordination among the administration, fertiliser dealers and retailers over distribution. These factors have led to a fertiliser shortage in the upazila.

Farmers were already frustrated because they were unable to obtain fertiliser on time and in the quantities they needed from government-designated sales points. It was largely this frustration that led to Monday morning’s incident at Bandaber Bazar, where farmers broke through the fence and door of the warehouse of Mita Hasan Enterprise and took fertiliser.

Local farmers said dealers’ sales points are not open every day. As the outlets open after several days’ intervals, large numbers of farmers gather at the same time to collect fertiliser. They further said the main reason behind Monday’s incident was the failure to obtain fertiliser despite waiting for a long time.

Earlier, on 23 August, farmers broke through the fence of another dealer’s warehouse at Dhuldanga Bazar in Shilkuri union of Bhurungamari upazila and took away 225 sacks of fertiliser. They later returned 115 sacks following assurances from the administration.

The dealer, Shah Amanat Enterprise, faced allegations of failing to supply fertiliser on time and discrepancies in cash memos. The company was subsequently served with a show-cause notice.

There is no direct road link from Kurigram town to Rowmari. From the town, one must first travel about 35 kilometres by road to Chilmari Port. From there, it takes two and a half hours by river in a motorised boat, or trawler, to reach Rowmari Ferry Ghat. The upazila headquarters is then another four kilometres away by road.

This correspondent travelled from Kurigram town to Rowmari on Tuesday morning. After travelling by road and river, he reached the upazila at 12:30 pm. He then visited fertiliser dealers’ sales points in different parts of Shoulmari, Bandaber and Rowmari Sadar unions until 4:00 pm. He also spoke to fertiliser sellers, farmers, agricultural officials and officials of the upazila administration. All of them highlighted the farmers’ difficulty in obtaining fertiliser according to their needs.

Abdus Salam, a farmer from Char Boalmari village in Rowmari, has cultivated Aman rice on three bighas of land. More than 40 days have passed since he planted the rice, but he has not been able to apply any fertiliser.

He said on Tuesday, “I stood in the sun for almost an hour but still could not get any fertiliser. After falling ill, I gave my slip to my son and had him stand in the queue.”

Another farmer from Char Boalmari, Abdul Jalal, has cultivated rice on five bighas of land. He said he had been coming to collect fertiliser for four days but had returned empty-handed each time.

Following Monday’s incident in which farmers broke into a warehouse in Bandaber union and took fertiliser, the administration held a meeting with stakeholders that day. It was decided that fertiliser would be sold through retailers.

As a trial, 40 sacks of fertiliser were supplied to nine retail shops in Rowmari Sadar on Tuesday. Amirul Islam, a retailer in the Bholamor area of the upazila headquarters, said he received 200kg of fertiliser at around 7:00 am and sold it all within an hour. He struggled to manage the crowd of farmers.

According to the Upazila Agriculture Extension Department, this year’s allocation for Rowmari is 2,040 tonnes of urea, 510 tonnes of TSP and 900 tonnes of DAP.

According to the upazila agriculture officer, each bigha requires 50kg of urea and 40kg each of TSP and DAP. A local bigha is equivalent to 62 decimals. Based on this calculation, demand for urea is around 2,095 tonnes, while demand for TSP and DAP is around 1,676 tonnes each.

Mahbubul Alam Basunia, an official of the Upazila Agriculture Extension Department, said many farmers stock fertiliser for early-season groundnut, wheat and maize cultivation. In addition, media reports of fertiliser shortages in various areas have prompted farmers to buy more fertiliser than they need.

He further said rice cultivation had expanded by an additional 1,625 hectares this year because there had been no flooding, putting further pressure on fertiliser supplies.

Around 1,000 farmers gathered at the warehouse of Mita Hasan Enterprise at Bandaber Bazar on Monday morning to collect fertiliser. According to the company, 750 sacks of fertiliser were stored at the warehouse at the time.

At one point, amid the pushing and jostling, the warehouse fence and door were broken and some people took away around 50 sacks of fertiliser. Several people later returned fertiliser and money. The company claimed it suffered losses of around Tk 15,000.

Also on Monday, dealer Md Shakil in the upazila Sadar area said it was difficult to tackle the shortage by supplying fertiliser only through dealers’ outlets.

He said increasing the opportunity to sell fertiliser through retailers under administrative supervision would ease pressure on farmers.

The agriculture department says equal quantities of fertiliser are allocated to each union under the existing policy. However, the number of farmers is not the same in every union. As a result, fertiliser runs out quickly in unions with larger numbers of farmers.

According to information obtained from the Upazila Agriculture Office, Bandaber union has 8,528 farmers, while Shoulmari has 6,858. However, because of the policy of equal allocation by union, both unions receive the same quantity of fertiliser. As a result, demand cannot be met in all areas.

Farmers complained that calling all farmers in a union to collect fertiliser on the same day creates excessive pressure at dealers’ sales points. They suggested supplying fertiliser to farmers from the three wards of a union in stages, which they said would reduce crowds and disorder.

However, Rowmari Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Mahbubul Hasan claimed that there was sufficient fertiliser stock in the upazila.

He said the fertiliser shortage was mainly the result of panic among farmers. Some shortcomings in the distribution system had led to the unwanted situation, he added.

The UNO further said fertiliser distribution had begun by issuing slips to farmers. At the same time, the experimental sale of fertiliser at the retail level in local markets had also begun according to demand.

He said the situation would return to normal quickly through proper market management.