Problem in distribution blamed for ongoing fertiliser crisis

FE Team | Published: November 13, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
Importers have blamed the problem in distribution at the field level for the crisis of fertilisers in many districts.
Farmers in many districts, including Munshiganj, Narsingdi, Gazipur, Tangail are now facing crisis of fertilisers during the ongoing Aman season.
"Actually there is no dearth of fertiliser at this moment in the country. But farmers are not getting the manure in many districts following the introduction of new system at the union level by the government," said Chairman of Bangladesh Fertiliser Association (BFA) Kofil Uddin Ahmed Monday.
Currently, block supervisors employed under the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) are responsible for issuing slips to the farmers for fertilisers at the union levels.
The new system is time consuming and they (block supervisers) are issuing fertilisers to the farmers well below their requirement, alleged some leaders of the BFA.
Importers also said that panic-buying of fertilisers by the farmers has also created an unhealthy situation at many places.
Importers said that they had already released 54,000 tonnes of Triple Super of Phosphate (TSP) for distribution across the country apart from releasing of 70,000 tonnes of Muriate of Potash (MoP) for the ongoing season.
The BFA leaders also said they have around 60,000 tonnes of TSP and 80,0000 of MoP in their stock across the country to meet the crisis.
Furthermore, 60,000 tonnes of TSP and 130,000 MoP in the pipeline will be available some time in December or January next year.
Besides, the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) is procuring 50,000 tonnes of TSP and 50,000 tonnes of MoP for meeting the demand of the manure for the season.
Sources at the BADAC told the FE Monday that they had completed all formalities for procuring fertilisers and those might be reach in the country early next year.
Importers also said the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation has taken steps for importing urea following the shut down of Polash Urea Fertiliser Factory.
Polash Urea Fertiliser Factory at Ghorashal remained closed for sometime due to the maintenance problem. The annual capacity of the factory is around 0.25 million tonnes.
Industries Advisor Geetuara Safiya Chowdhury recently claimed that there was no crisis of fertilisers in the country.