With farmers in the middle of the busy Aman-season work of transplanting and tending rice seedlings, fertilizer has become their latest source of anxiety in Rajshahi. Unable to find fertilizer at one dealer’s shop, farmers are rushing to the next. In some places, they stand in line for hours only to get a small fraction of what they need; in others, they return empty-handed. Some are also accused of taking advantage of the shortage to sell fertilizer at 500 to 700 taka above the government-set price.
A long line formed at the shop of BCIC dealer Nazrul Islam in Godagari’s Deopara union. Allam, a farmer from Deopara village, said he had stood in line for nearly two hours since morning. Bablu, a farmer from Kazihata village who is growing Aman rice on 10 bighas of land, came to Deopara after failing to find urea at his own area’s dealer, but turned back without buying any after learning he would be given only 20 kilograms.
Harun Or Rashid, a farmer from Bhimer Dying village in Paba, said he could not find DAP. Rashidul Islam, a farmer from Kadamshahar in Godagari, also traveled to another area after failing to find fertilizer at his local dealer. “It’s hard to keep rice yields up with urea alone,” he said. Akbar Ali, from the same area, managed to get two sacks of urea but no DAP.
The picture was the same in Charghat. A crowd of farmers gathered at Akash Enterprise in Vayalakshmipur union for TSP. Some got 25 kilograms instead of a full sack; others received just 15 kilograms against a demand for two sacks.
An employee at the dealership claimed only 29 sacks of TSP remained after receiving 10 metric tons, which is why everyone was being given small amounts.
Alongside the shortage, there are also allegations of overpricing. At Rajabarihat in Godagari, one farmer bought a 50-kilogram sack of DAP for 1,750 taka, against a government price of 1,050 taka. At the same shop, urea sold for 1,500 taka against a government price of 1,350 taka. The shop’s owner admitted to selling DAP at 34 taka a kilogram.
According to the district Department of Agricultural Extension, Rajshahi received 4,724 metric tons of urea in August against an allocation of 7,574 tons. It received 2,182 tons of DAP against an allocation of 2,647 tons, 1,240 tons of TSP against an allocation of 1,511 tons, and 1,496 tons of MOP against an allocation of 1,760 tons. This Aman season, 83,600 hectares have been cultivated in Rajshahi. Beyond that, fertilizer is also used on about 17,774 hectares of ponds in the district for fish farming, adding extra pressure on the fertilizer allocated for cropland.
Mohammad Nasir Uddin, deputy director of Rajshahi’s district Department of Agricultural Extension, said: “The allocation is somewhat lower than demand. Where we get complaints of overpricing or illegal stockpiling, we conduct operations.”
District Commissioner Kazi Shahidul Islam maintained that Rajshahi has adequate fertilizer supplies, and said mobile courts take action wherever complaints of overpricing or diversion are received.
He said action would be taken wherever information indicated fertilizer was unavailable on the ground.
Over the past several days, operations in Paba, Puthia, Durgapur and Charghat have led to fines against several establishments over allegations of diverting fertilizer for outside sale and illegal stockpiling.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report