Iqbal slams fertiliser dealers, farm officials

FE Team | Published: November 11, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal expressed Saturday dissatisfaction over mismanagement in fertiliser distribution after protests by farmers were reported from different parts of the country over the past few days, bdnews24.com.
At a meeting in the office of the deputy commissioner of Dhaka, the adviser blamed the agriculture department officials and fertiliser dealers for the sluggish management.
"After all of this, how do you think your jobs should remain intact," the adviser told the officials and dealers present. Upazila nirbahi officers under Dhaka district also attended the meeting.
"The officials of the department of agricultural extension do not know the gap between the demand and production of fertiliser. This is not called responsibility," the adviser said.
Dhaka's Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Kamaluddin presided over the meeting where representatives of the farmers and dealers said there was no dearth of urea fertiliser in the district but that mismanagement was the real problem. However, they said that there was shortage of MOP, TSP and potash fertiliser.
They said that agriculture would suffer if the fertiliser crisis were not solved by December.
The agriculture department officials also acknowledged the crisis.
They said that demand for urea fertiliser in the district was 3,826 tonnes out of which 3,561 tonnes was available now.
But the department officials could not give any figure to the adviser on the demand for of the MOP, TSP and potash fertiliser. They said that they needed a survey to know the demand.
Blasting the officials, the adviser said that there was no crisis of fertiliser at present nor was there scope for one in the future.
"The issue of the crisis has surfaced just because of mismanagement. All officials must be responsible for proper distribution of fertiliser," Iqbal told them.
He asked the officials to be vigilant about the dealers distributing the fertiliser they were getting from the government.