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Artificial crisis of fertilizer troubles farmers in Thakurgaon


Published : 07 Aug 2021 08:34 PM | Updated : 07 Aug 2021 08:34 PM

Aman paddy sapling planting season is underway in Thakurgaon district. Farmers are currently busy picking and planting seedlings from the seedbed. In general, maintenance work is going on in the paddy field. Though it is high time to apply fertilizer but traders in the district are selling fertilizer at higher prices by creating artificial shortage of fertilizer.

The target for planting Aman paddy saplings in 1 lakh 36 thousand 25 hectares of land in Thakurgaon district this year has been set. So far, Aman paddy has been planted in 1 lakh 24 thousand hectares of land. The target for Aman paddy production is 3 lakh 96 thousand 450 metric tons of rice. In order to achieve the target of Aman yield, regular application and care of fertilizer is required.

Meanwhile, there has been a crisis of chemical fertilizers in different markets of the district since last one week. They are selling at Rs 100 to Rs 1300. Due to this, many farmers are not able to buy fertilizers as per the demand. However, there are 63 BCIC dealers and 146 BADC dealers in the district.

According to the Department of Agriculture, the district now has adequate stocks of 1,063 metric tonnes of urea, 206 metric tonnes of TSP, 399 metric tonnes of DAP and 417 metric tonnes of MOP.

Zahir Uddi, Abdul Aziz and Ayub Ali, farmers of Ghanimaheshpur village, said that if fertilizer is not given to the land at the time of transplanting or within maximum 15 days, the roots will not spread. At present, urea is being bought at Rs 1,000, TSP at Rs 1,300 and MOP fertilizer at Rs 1,000.

Abu Taher, deputy director of the district agricultural extension department, said there is no shortage of fertilizer in the district at present. Dealers have adequate stock of fertilizers. In the retail market, urea is priced at Tk 18 per kg, TSP at Tk 22, DAP at Tk 18 and MOP at Tk 15. No one will be able to ask for the price of fertilizer at a price higher than the fixed price.

Chairman and Deputy Commissi­oner of the Fertilizer Monitoring Committee Md. Mahbubur Rahman said that agriculture officers and UNOs have been directed to monitor the fertilizer crisis in the market. Anyone who artificially creates or tries to create a fertilizer crisis will be strongly resisted.