An importer of around 80 per cent of fertilizers, Bangladesh faces substantial shortfall of the items soon as the supply lines are now caught up in a war, jointly inflicted by the USA and Israel on Iran. The annual demand for various types of fertilizers in the country stands at between 6.2 and 6.5 million tones. The present stock of the same is estimated at 1.8 million tones, which, according to agricultural officials, will be able to meet the farming needs until May-June period. Thus, the stock does not offer any long time guarantee. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, a key maritime route for the passage of both oil and fertilizer. In that case, the government would be required to have contingency plans to ride out any future risks in this regard.
The risks may include prolonging of the war and its attendant fallouts including widening of the dangers to the movement of the fertilizer-laden ships in the sea. That would drive up freight charges. Any rise in fuel price is another factor that has reportedly gone through the roof in the international market in the meantime. As reported in this paper in its Monday last issue, fertilizer prices are already four-year high in the international market for war-related reasons. So, the government has little room for complacency as five of its own (state-run) fertilizer plants have shut down due to crisis in its main feedstock, natural gas.
Against this backdrop, the government is learnt to have planned to import 1.7 million metric tons of fertilizers from different countries for the upcoming Aman and winter crops, according to BADC and other sources. Evidently, the decision has been made because the prices of all the key components of the different chemical fertilizers used by the country's farmers such as Urea, Triple super phosphate (TSP), Diammonium phosphate (DAP) and Muriate of Potash (MOP) have gone up in the international market. Of the international sources of fertilizers, Saudi Arabia is a major one that supplies DAP, while TSP and urea are sourced from Morocco and China respectively. MOP, on the other hand, is sourced from Canada and Russia. Now, to meet the demand for the largest cropping season boro, which also requires the highest amount of fertilizers, the government would like to assure farmers with its reported sufficiency of stock which would ensure supply of the farming input till June.
So, the government reportedly has a plan to import 1.7 million metric tons of fertilizers to meet the demands for the next cropping seasons of Aus and Aman extending between April and December. Even satisfactory stocks will not do if farmers cannot afford pricier fertilizers. So, subsidized rates of fertilizers or easy credits are needed. Farmers will face a double whammy, as the rise in the price of fertilizers is taking place in tandem with those of fuels to operate their irrigation pumps. In fact, it is ultimately going to be a 'triple whammy' for farmers as the cost of growing the crops would multiply due to this dual price hike. In that case, alongside procurement of fertilizers, the government would be required to have a strategy to bail out farmers during the harvesting seasons so they (farmers) might not have to incur loss while selling their produce.
Bailing out farmers from costly fuel, fertilizer
FE Team | Published: March 17, 2026 21:14:17
Bailing out farmers from costly fuel, fertilizer
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