Scarcity of fertilizer hits northern region

---

FE Report
Farmers in the northern region, are still facing scarcity of fertiliser, which is hampering cultivation of potato and other Rabi crops.
There is acute shortage of particularly Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP), an essential input for the potato cultivation.
Admitting the shortfall, agriculture ministry sources said the current stock is not satisfactory.
Due to sharp rise in the prices of both raw materials and the DAP in the international markets, the private sector importers are not importing the item while the local factories have cut daily production, the sources said.
According to sources, only 16,000 tonnes of DAP is in stock at this moment against the demand for 32,000 tonnes during the current month and a total of 115,000 tonnes during the current Rabi and Boro season (December-March).
A spokesman of the Bangladesh Fertiliser Association (BFA), a platform of the local fertiliser importers, said their members have opened letters of credit (LCs) for importing only 10,000 tonnes of DAP, which will reach the country in late December.
"We are not being able to procure DAP due to shortfall in production as well as high price in the international markets," Riaz Uddin Ahmad, Executive Secretary of the BFA told the FE Wednesday adding, the DAP in the global markets is now selling at US$590 per tonne against that of $370 in June last.
He said the importers have been asked by the government to import Triple-Supper Phosphate (TSP) instead of the DAP due to the high import cost.
According to sources, the production of potato and Boro paddy this season might fall. The farmers wanted to cultivate more potato and Boro rice this season to recoup the losses caused by the floods in July-September period, but they are now concerned about the prospect of their production, the sources added.
The sources said fertilisers are available in the open markets at very high prices. Urea is being sold at Tk 600-Tk 700 per bag (50kg) against the government fixed Tk 300, DAP at Tk 3000-3200 against the normal price of Tk 1900, and each of MoP and TSP at Tk 2000-2300 against the normal rate of Tk 1100-Tk 1300 per bag in the open markets.
When asked, an agriculture ministry official said that the current overall stock of fertiliser in the country was adequate. "There may be some problem in supply chain", he said.
Delay in issuing the departmental order (DO) to the dealers by the concerned ministry and district administrations, and inefficiency of the field level agriculture workers in issuing sanction permits to the farmers are creating impediments to the smooth fertiliser supply, the sources said.
The agriculture ministry has fixed the demand for urea during this Rabi and Boro season (December to March) is over 1.4 million tonnes, DAP 0.12 million tonnes, TSP 0.22 million tonnes and MoP 0.20 million tonnes.