Fertiliser distribution
The efficient management initiated by the agriculture minister of the distribution of agricultural inputs, together with a more or less assured supply of electricity in the rural areas for irrigation, had last year endowed Bangladesh with a bumper crop. Everything in the country seems to have taken a nosedive since then. After having witnessed the syndicate-raj tweak the nose of several ministries and reduce their vaunted claims of stable prices into whimpers during the past Ramadan, one wonders whether the syndicate-raj is going to call the shots once again by creating a fertilizer crisis and hold the government hostage during the ensuing Boro and Aman seasons. We know that two or three of the fertilizer companies have been shut-down in order to make natural gas available in the kitchens of the urban centres. This will obviously cause a shortage of fertilizers in the country and large scale imports have to be undertaken now. We are happy that imports of such a scale are possible from a financing point of view because of the plentiful stocks of foreign currency that the overseas workers have put in the state coffers. We would like to be assured that the distribution and marketing of the fertilizers would be done so that the entire country is not held hostage by the syndicate-raj, by manipulating the supply and distribution system of the fertilizers. We have also witnessed how the bureaucracy had once again created their insidiously famous tangles and by forging an unholy alliance with these syndicates, had made sure that imported supplies for Ramadan could not get to the marketplace in time so that the syndicate-raj could loot and plunder during this month. We would like both state actors as well as the private importers to make sure that L/Cs are opened for the fertilizers in time. We should also see to it that the government's efforts are not thwarted by friends of the fundamentalists of this country who, we are told, will be doling out Tk. 100 crore to see that this government gets a series of rubbings on several issues. We would also want the concerned ministries to make sure that large-scale unloading and loading facilities, including transportation are kept in a ready-state so that the syndicate-raj is not able to create yet another throat which to strangulate. We are not talking about small quantities here but a figure in the neighbourhood of 7 or 8 lakh tons. The magnitude can be conceived somewhat if we try to visualize that every 5 ton-truck in Bangladesh would have to make six or seven trips in order to move the fertilizers from the port itself to the distribution points. (but we know that most fertilizers are transported in bulk) And finally, we would like to see the ministries make sure that the fertilizer distribution channel, down to the lowest levels, is not left solely to these wolves and their political cohorts who have so far been able to manipulate the supply and distribution systems. We also would like social activist organisations to get together to act as public watchdogs.
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