Hundreds of angry farmers in Kurigram’s Nageshwari blocked a road with tree logs again after failing to get the fertiliser they needed for the Rabi season. They confined an agriculture officer and protested, demanding the removal of the officer and the fertiliser dealer. Police, with help from the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), later rescued the confined officer and brought him to Kachakata police station.
The blockade took place from 7am to noon on Friday in front of BCIC dealer Messrs Bhai Bhai Traders in the Gabtala Bazar area of Ballabherkhas union. Rafiqul Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer for the Ballabherkhas union block, was confined during the protest. After nearly five hours, the upazila executive officer went to the scene and gave assurances, after which the farmers lifted the blockade.
Demand for fertiliser is rising in the area for the Rabi season’s main crops — Aman rice, eggplant and various vegetables — alongside the start of maize and other crop cultivation. But farmers have not been getting fertiliser as needed since planting began. When word spread on Friday morning that the designated dealer for Gabtala-area farmers, Messrs Bhai Bhai Traders, was selling fertiliser, several hundred farmers gathered there and formed a long queue. At one point, the allocated fertiliser ran out and the dealer stopped selling, prompting angry farmers to raise allegations against the dealer and the sub-assistant agriculture officer and block the road in protest, demanding both be removed. Local Kachakata police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel tried to control the blockade and protest, and the situation calmed somewhat afterward. On receiving the news, Nageshwari upazila executive officer Mohammad Alauddin went to the scene and assured the farmers, after which they lifted the blockade.
Farmer Omar Faruk said a similar protest over fertiliser had taken place in the same Kachakata area a week earlier, when the UNO had promised to resolve the shortage, but it was never solved. “The fertiliser shortage keeps growing by the day,” he said. Mojibor, a farmer from Gabtala village, said: “Cultivation is suffering because of the fertiliser shortage. Even after a lot of hassle, we can’t get any, so we all blocked the road together.” Abdus Salam, from the same village, said: “Whenever I go to the dealer, he says there’s no fertiliser. I’ve been going around for many days. I stood in line today, and then heard the fertiliser had run out. The agriculture officers say there’s no shortage, so why can’t we get any?”
The owner of Messrs Bhai Bhai Traders’ fertiliser shop is reportedly no longer alive. His representative, Khairul Islam, declined to comment when approached. Upazila agriculture officer Shahriar Hossain said: “We have adequate fertiliser stock. Fertiliser was supposed to be distributed from two points today. Since one point ran out, farmers who didn’t get any confined the sub-assistant agriculture officer. We are trying to meet farmers’ demand from the other point.”
UNO Mohammad Alauddin said the angry farmers had blocked the road for a while, and that the problem arose because many people went to collect fertiliser at once and could not all be served. “Everyone has been informed that they will get fertiliser in turn,” he said, adding that action would be taken against the sub-assistant agriculture officer and the dealer if any irregularities in distribution were found. Farmers in the same upazila’s Berubari, Bamondanga and Ramkhana unions had also blocked roads and protested over a lack of fertiliser on September 14.