Many farmers have already prepared seed beds on their respective lands across the country ahead of the Boro season’s peak period set to begin next month.
The green seedlings are also seen covering the seed beds with the ray of new sunshine. We wish our farmers’ dream to see their fields to be filled with golden paddy will be materialised again.
But, the demand for sufficient supply of fertiliser and other agriculture inputs increases significantly during this peak time. The demand for urea fertiliser during November to March is about 17 lakh tonnes.
The government on Wednesday approved separate proposals for procuring some 90,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser to meet the growing demand of the country for such items.
Keeping this in mind, all the ministries concerned and departments will have to extend all-out support and cooperation to the farmers to continue Boro cultivation by ensuring uninterrupted supply of fertilisers amid ongoing blockades and hartals programmes by BNP. The government must ensure fertilisers at the local market at any cost as fertilisers are needed in this boro season.
The ongoing blockades
have already affected
the transportation of
fertilisers badly
So, there will be no crisis of fertilisers. If the fertiliser in the supply chain cannot be distributed on time across the country, there will be a serious disaster.
Our farmers will get frustrated if they do not get fertiliser on time. The ongoing blockades have already affected the transportation of fertilisers badly.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, more than 2 crore tonnes of rice are produced during the Boro season, which contributes to ensuring the country’s food security throughout the year. Therefore, the ministries concerned will have to take necessary measures to transport the fertiliser to local markets so that farmers can buy the essential input easily.
On the other hand, many dealers and shopkeepers are found involved in selling fertilisers at a high price after spreading rumours of a fertilizer crisis during every peak season. Legal steps must be taken against those dealers, businessmen and shop owners who are found selling fertilisers at a high price. Mobile court drives should also be conducted in the boro season. The authorities will also have to monitor everything strictly and ask the field-level workers to remain active in that case. Various organised syndicates mostly dealers create an artificial crisis in order to make hefty profits at the expense of farmers, showing excuses that most fertiliser prices soared across the globe or they are not getting fertiliser due to hartal or blockade. And they are also spreading rumour that the fertilisers prices will stay high in coming days.
The dealers are selling fertilisers to the farmers at their respective shops mostly situated in towns instead of villages. The dealers are charging more than the subsidised rate under the very nose of the authorities concerned.