Sorting out the problem of high fertiliser price
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
BANGLADESH farmers are famous for their resilience in the face of all odds, natural or manmade. They have proved it time and again, particularly after natural disasters such as floods and cyclones of great magnitude. The help and assistance extended to them in the post-disaster days had been, in most cases, highly inadequate compared to their needs. Yet they got on their feet, reassembled their life and started their journey anew. They toil hard to recoup the production losses due to natural calamities and, thus, contribute to the sustained supply and price stability of farm products, including cereals.
However, the farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to continue with their urge for better and higher production because of either short-supply or higher prices of inputs, including fertilisers and diesel. Such developments have become a recurrent feature in recent years. The government is otherwise expected to help ensure the delivery of farm inputs in adequate quantities and at affordable prices at the growers' level. But the developments are taking place in the opposite direction. The farmers are coming to the doorsteps of the government officials at the upazila level to demand stable and steady supply of inputs. Incidents are galore about the farmers' demonstrations against fertiliser or fuel scarcity and in a good number of incidents they have also become the victims of police brutality. What is more disheartening is that the farmers are now being forced to pay exorbitant prices for imported fertilisers, including triple super phosphate (TSP), muriate of potash (MOP) and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), and most part of the subsidy that the government provides to those fertilisers are eaten up by the dealers.
According to a newspaper report, the government in 2007 reduced the rate of subsidy to imported fertilisers from 25 per cent to 15 per cent given earlier. Then again, on the plea of higher transportation costs, the profit margin of the fertiliser dealers has recently been enhanced, meaning that the farmers are being forced to buy imported fertilisers at higher prices. But higher prices have led to the lower takeoff of TSP, MOP and DAP fertilisers. The private fertiliser dealers at many places have, reportedly, claimed that their business turnover has dropped by nearly 80 per cent. That is a piece of worrying news. Food or cash crops do need supplements of various nutrients in different quantities and the failure to provide the same is bound to affect both quality and quantity of production as well as soil fertility.
Reports have it that farmers in many areas are using urea in higher quantities to compensate for the failure to use expensive imported fertilisers such as TSP, MOP and DAP. It is hard to say whether such higher application of one fertiliser does serve the purpose or not. But the imbalanced use of fertiliser is bound to affect the soil fertility in the medium and long terms. This fact is now very much evident in various parts of the country. The farmers have been using increased quantities of urea fertiliser with every passing year to maintain their production level. This is a serious situation going unnoticed by the authorities concerned. There will be a day - it may not be that far away - when farmers' land would produce little food even after application of heavy doses of fertilisers. Still there is time to make the farmers aware about the dangers of imbalanced use of fertilisers on their lands. Side by side with awareness raising campaign, the government should ensure timely availability of fertilisers at affordable prices during Aman and Boro crop seasons. Bangladesh farmers are resilient but most of them are poor and can hardly afford to buy inputs at high prices. The government does need to keep this fact in its mind.
However, the farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to continue with their urge for better and higher production because of either short-supply or higher prices of inputs, including fertilisers and diesel. Such developments have become a recurrent feature in recent years. The government is otherwise expected to help ensure the delivery of farm inputs in adequate quantities and at affordable prices at the growers' level. But the developments are taking place in the opposite direction. The farmers are coming to the doorsteps of the government officials at the upazila level to demand stable and steady supply of inputs. Incidents are galore about the farmers' demonstrations against fertiliser or fuel scarcity and in a good number of incidents they have also become the victims of police brutality. What is more disheartening is that the farmers are now being forced to pay exorbitant prices for imported fertilisers, including triple super phosphate (TSP), muriate of potash (MOP) and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), and most part of the subsidy that the government provides to those fertilisers are eaten up by the dealers.
According to a newspaper report, the government in 2007 reduced the rate of subsidy to imported fertilisers from 25 per cent to 15 per cent given earlier. Then again, on the plea of higher transportation costs, the profit margin of the fertiliser dealers has recently been enhanced, meaning that the farmers are being forced to buy imported fertilisers at higher prices. But higher prices have led to the lower takeoff of TSP, MOP and DAP fertilisers. The private fertiliser dealers at many places have, reportedly, claimed that their business turnover has dropped by nearly 80 per cent. That is a piece of worrying news. Food or cash crops do need supplements of various nutrients in different quantities and the failure to provide the same is bound to affect both quality and quantity of production as well as soil fertility.
Reports have it that farmers in many areas are using urea in higher quantities to compensate for the failure to use expensive imported fertilisers such as TSP, MOP and DAP. It is hard to say whether such higher application of one fertiliser does serve the purpose or not. But the imbalanced use of fertiliser is bound to affect the soil fertility in the medium and long terms. This fact is now very much evident in various parts of the country. The farmers have been using increased quantities of urea fertiliser with every passing year to maintain their production level. This is a serious situation going unnoticed by the authorities concerned. There will be a day - it may not be that far away - when farmers' land would produce little food even after application of heavy doses of fertilisers. Still there is time to make the farmers aware about the dangers of imbalanced use of fertilisers on their lands. Side by side with awareness raising campaign, the government should ensure timely availability of fertilisers at affordable prices during Aman and Boro crop seasons. Bangladesh farmers are resilient but most of them are poor and can hardly afford to buy inputs at high prices. The government does need to keep this fact in its mind.