An acute fertiliser crisis has left the farmers in distress across the country, threatening production shortfall this year. However, the agriculture ministry confirmed that there is no shortage of fertiliser in the country.
Various organised syndicates mostly dealers have created an artificial crisis in order to make hefty profits at the expense of farmers, showing excuses that most fertiliser prices soared across the globe. And they are also spreading rumour that the fertilisers’ prices will stay high in coming days.
It has been noticed that the dealers are selling fertilisers to the farmers at their respective shops mostly situated in town instead of villages. And the dealers are charging more than the subsidised rate under the very nose of the authorities concerned. After being failed to get the fertilisers at government rate, the aggrieved farmers are getting locked into altercation with the retailers.
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Authorities
concerned should take necessary steps so that
farmers can
buy fertiliser
at fair prices
When farmers have started farming various crops on their lands in Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Manikganj, Laxmipur and other districts of the country, they are not getting adequate fertilisers at fair rate. Besides, char people have also started sowing seeds of Rabi crops on char lands following the appearance of shoals with massive deposition of alluvial soils during recent floods. Apart from these, various crops farming are also continuing and tender plants of some crops are growing superbly on lands across the country alongside, char lands, shoals and silted-up beds of the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Ghaghot, Jamuna, Kartoa and other rivers. Therefore, if the growers are not provided sufficient fertilisers at subsidised rate, crops transplantation and seedlings and production will be affected badly.
The ministry concerned on October 26 in a letter asked the deputy commissioners and field level officials of department of agricultural extension to intensify supervision and monitor on fertiliser distribution system to avoid any crisis. It also asked to take immediate action against the dealers and middlemen involved in such immoral and unethical activities that may hit the country’s agriculture production.
When the official price of a bag of TSP is Tk 1,100, farmers are paying at least Tk 1,500. Not only TSP but most of the fertilisers are selling at high prices, pushing up farmers’ production cost, which in turn eats up their profit margin.
In this regard, we hope relevant authorities will take necessary steps so that farmers can buy fertiliser at fair prices.
Also, the home and commerce ministries have huge responsibility to protect farmers from the greedy dealers and take strict action against those who are trying to create an artificial crisis by stockpiling fertilisers.
Therefore, all the ministries concerned and departments should extend all-out support and cooperation to the farmers to continue agricultural production by ensuring uninterrupted supply of fertilisers.