Fertiliser crisis

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NEWSPAPERS are again reporting that the production cost of aman paddy is going up because of problems in fertiliser supplies and in some cases high cost of this agriculture input.

Reportedly the prices of non-urea fertilisers such as triple super phosphate, di-ammonium phosphate and murate of potash have all risen substantially during the aman season. Such non-urea fertilisers are important inputs for the paddy to become more resilient to pests and diseases.

Aman is not much an attractive crop to farmers compared to that of boro. But the farmers cultivate it not only for extra earning, but also to recover their losses. Despite repeated commitments by the government agencies and departments, the price-hike and supply-side constraints of fertiliser prove that there is problem still lingering in the distribution system. The constraints and problems relating to availability and distribution of fertilisers could have been avoided with forward planning and coordination. In some places farmers reportedly demonstrated against price-hike and non-availability of fertilisers defying the emergency. Recently during a recent visit to Jessore I also came to know about this problem.

In such situations, the poor and marginal farmers suffer most. Is there any way to ensure that the marginal farmers need not to pay higher prices for their inputs?

Ameen Raja

Mirpur, Dhaka