“Once we have to suffer a lot when there was not enough fertilizers in the market and we could not apply the same on our croplands for months. Further, a section of dealers of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) and their sub dealers have been reaping double profit taking the advantages of the situation. But the farmers do not suffer anymore and can get enough fertilizer for the lands as we desire,” said a number of farmers at Jalalpur area in bordering Moheshpur of Jhenaidah.
The farmers said they had witnessed farmers had to sustain bullet injuries on their chests when they had demanded supply of their required fertilizers at fair prices which was the most important agriculture materials for their farming. Now they do not show eagerness to recall the time when the present government had allocated adequate chemical fertilizers at fair prices.
Some of them said although the government has been withdrawing the subsidy on the fertilizers, the price is within their reach and affordable for the farmers, they said.
Rabiul Islam, a farmer of Kalicharanpur area under JhenaidahSadar upazila when contacted said he has been purchasing the per kilogram of urea and triple super phosphate (TSP) at Taka 22, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP at Taka 16 and muriate of potash (MoP) at Taka 15 from the dealers of the BCIC. Although some of the remote area sub dealers sometimes claim additional Taka one to two for each kilogram, most of the farmers purchase the fertilizer at fair prices.
A source related to the office of the deputy director of the department of agriculture extension (DAE) in KhamarbariJhenaidah said they had submitted requirements for 58,606 tones of urea, 22,403 tones of TSP, 135,895 tones of DAP and 17,919 tones ofMoP till March this year and already received the total quantity.
Asgar Ali, DAE deputy director in KhamarbariJhenaidah also member secretary of Jhenaidah district fertilizers and seed monitoring committee when contacted said huge quantity of chemical fertilizers are stocked in the buffer godown at Kaliganj in Jhenaiidah. The BCIC dealers have been taking delivery of their required fertilizer from the stock every day, deputy director said.
Deputy commissioner (DC) also president of Jhenaidah district fertilizers and seed monitoring committee Manira Begum when contacted said the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is ensuring chemical fertilizers and other agriculture inputs for the farmers at a subsidized rate to ensure better crop production countrywide.
It has been helping produce surplus foodgrains, even additional crops to export abroad. Now the intension of the government is to produce safe foodgrains for the nation as well as globe. The current administration will not allow anyone to exploit the market of fertilizers and other agricultural materials which would affect the farmers anyway, DC Manira Begum warned.