Fertiliser crisis may frustrate Aman yield in Gobindaganj
Aman cultivation is likely to face a setback in Gobindaganj upazila due to scarcity of triple super phosphate (TSP) and murate of potash (MP) ahead of paddy seedling transplantation season.
This is because of dealers' delay in lifting their allocated quota of fertiliser, said sources in Upazila Agriculture Department.
A total of 30,200 hectares of land have been fixed for aman cultivation in the upazila. Nearly 80 percent of the total cultivable lands were brought under aman farming, said sources in Agriculture Extension Department (AED). With a view to meeting the demand of fertiliser, the authorities allocated 700 metric tons of TSP and 180 metric tons of MP for distribution among 18 dealers of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) in the entire upazila on July 31. But fertiliser dealers are not drawing their allocated quota of fertiliser in pretext of high price although 13 days already passed, farmers and AED sources said.
Dealers said the present rate of TSP (50 kg) bag is Tk 3,800 while it was sold at Tk 1,800 earlier. Similarly, a 50 kg bag of MP is being sold at Tk 2,373 while its previous rate was Tk 1,400. Price of a bag of urea was also refixed at Tk 590 against its previous rate of Tk 300.
Poor farmers will not be able to purchase MP and TSP due to high prices, they said.
Demand for fertiliser is almost limited as farmers should have to apply at least 10 to 12 kg TSP and 8 to 10 kg MP on a bigha of land, said agriculture officer Khorsed Alam.
The Agriculture Department issued a warning to the BCIC dealers on Thursday to lift their allocated TSP and MP without further delay. On failure, drastic measure will be taken against the defaulters, the warning said.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments