The fertiliser cost of farmers may decline by Tk 1.40 billion this fiscal year (FY) as the government has cut price of diammonium phosphate (DAP) by Tk 2.00 per kg, officials said.
An official at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) said the new price was fixed at Tk 25 per kg Thursday from Tk 27 per kg at retail level which will come into effect from tomorrow (November 1).
The dealers will get the fertiliser at Tk 23 per kg from importers or industries, he said.
He said the MoA has taken the decision to increase use of non-urea fertiliser and discourage the urea granule.
"Incessant use of urea is causing harm to both soil and crops. The MoA is trying to squeeze the use of urea," he said.
"We are expecting that reduction in DAP price may help lessen urea fertiliser use by 0.1 million tonnes worth Tk 2.5 billion," he said.
The official said the ministry is expecting at least 0.7 million tonnes of sale of DAP in FY '15.
The farmers' cost for non-urea fertiliser might drop by about Tk 1.4 billion in FY '15 thanks to the cut in DAP price, he said.
Deputy director at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Md Rafiqul Hasan said use of non-urea fertlisers like Triple Super Phosphate (TSP), DAP, Muriate of Potash (MoP) is on the increase.
We have estimated the demand of 2.65 million tonnes of urea, 0.725 million tonnes of Triple Super Phosphate (TSP), 0.675 million tonnes of DAP, 0.7 million tonnes of MoP and 0.135 million tonnes of Gypsum for farming in the current FY.
The use of TSP, DAP, MoP increased by nearly 15, 12 and 15 per cent respectively in last one and a half years, he said.
Agriculture experts appreciated the move of the government saying that it would help reduce input cost to some extent.
Farm economist Golam Hafiz Kennedy said it is a piece of good news for the flood-hit farmers who got almost nothing as compensation.
He said the total cost of subsidy for agriculture was Tk 90 billion in FY '14 of which Tk 61.16 billion was disbursed for fertiliser subsidy purposes.
Besides the indirect subsidy, which is provided in fertiliser, the farmers should be given cash subsidy this year as nearly 1.6 million of them were hit hard by floods.
He also said urea is the most sensitive and strategic product after seed.
"But, the disproportionate use of urea fertiliser is causing harm to both plants and soil," he said. He said the state-run DAE should take action plans to increase use of non-urea fertilisers, both chemical and bio, instead of urea.
Mr Kennedy said the 'leaf colour chart' (LCC) method should be implemented, which can reduce the use of urea by 20-25 per cent annually at every farm.
However, the DAE has estimated a demand of 5.03 million tonnes of fertilisers for farming in FY '15.
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