The government will take strict legal action if anyone's involvement is found in creating artificial crisis of fertilisers, warned Agriculture Minister Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque on Thursday while justifying the recent price hike of the agri input.
"We (the government) have been constantly monitoring so that none could create an artificial crisis following the recent price hike of fertilisers. We will bring to book those who are involved in artificial crisis of urea and other fertilisers," he said.
Dr Abdur Razzaque came up with the remarks at a press briefing on the price hike of fertilisers, stocks and overall situation at the conference room of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
He, however, expressed the hope that despite the price hike of urea fertiliser, the cost of agricultural production will not increase.
"There will be no negative impact on agricultural production due to the price hike of urea fertiliser," he said supporting the price hike of urea.
Earlier to keep the urea fertiliser price at a rational level considering the present global context and international price surge, the government increased the price of per kg urea to Tk22 from Tk16 at the farmer's level and raised it to Tk20 from Tk14 at the dealer's level.
The minister said per kilogram of urea fertiliser on the international market is now Tk81.
"As a result, the government has to give Tk59 subsidy for each kg urea despite only Tk6 hike per kg of the fertiliser," he said.
He added the government subsidy for per kg urea fertiliser was Tk15 during the fiscal year 2005-06.
Dr Razzaque suggested a 20 per cent slash in the use of urea fertiliser, saying it will not create negative impact on agricultural production.
He said farmers' consciousness is vital for reducing urea use.
"We (the government) are trying to reduce use of urea fertiliser and side by side stressing use of more Diammonium phosphate or DAP fertiliser," said Mr Razzaque.
The minister further said environment-friendly DAP fertiliser is effective for protecting soil quality and it helps increase agricultural production.
Despite the benefits of DAP fertiliser, use of urea fertiliser has been increasing in the country.
A total of 2.5 million tonnes of urea were used for farming purposes in 2019 which now stands at 2.6 million tonnes, according to the agriculture sector insiders.
Mr Razzaque who is also one of the senior leaders of the ruling Awamil Legue said prices of fertilisers have been increased three to four times higher compared to the fiscal year 2020-21.
He, however, said the country has sufficient stocks of fertilisers.
He added the country needs to import 3.2 million tonnes of non-urea fertilisers (TSP, DAP and MOP) annually.
The government is providing Tk59 subsidy for urea fertilsier while Tk86 for Triple Superphosphate or TSP, Tk 91 for Muriate of Potash or MOP and Tk 107 for DAP.
To encourage using more DAP fertiliser, the government has decreased its price to Tk25 per kg from Tk90 in 2009.
Later the price was reduced further to Tk 16 per kg from Tk 25 in 2019.
And due to the price cut, the quantity of DAP use has doubled.
During 2019 around 0.8 million tonnes of DAP fertiliser were used while it is now about 1.6 million tonnes.
Mr Razzaque said the import cost for a kg of urea is Tk 81 while TSP Tk108, MOP Tk 106 and DAP Tk 123.
The government gave Tk77 billion subsidy on fertilisers during the fiscal year 2020 while Tk280 billion subsidy was given during the FY 2021-22.
Regarding concern expressed by BNP and some left-leaning political parties over the recent price hike of fertilisers, the minister termed it as the outcome of their 'shamelessness'.
He said the political parties who opposed the government move to increase fertiliser prices had no idea about the real situation.
He added BNP, during their rule in 1995, killed 18 farmers for demanding fertiliser allocation from the government.
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