Bangladesh has no shortage of fertiliser, but an attempt was made to create an artificial one, Agriculture Minister Md Amin Ur Rashid said on Sunday, 13 September. Talking to reporters at the Secretariat in the afternoon, he said the situation would be back to normal within a few days. Earlier in the day Prime Minister Tarique Rahman visited the Ministry of Agriculture and met its officials.

Some people, the minister said, had deliberately tried to manufacture an "imitation crisis": fertiliser was turning up at the border, in rice mills and in warehouses where it had no business being. People had become alert, and fertiliser monitoring committees had been set up in almost every upazila and at district level.

Setting out the stock position, he said the country holds more than a lakh tonnes above requirement. One or more ships arrive every week and imports follow demand; the government normally keeps a reserve of 10-12 lakh tonnes, sometimes raised to 15 lakh tonnes ahead of the peak season, so that the loss or delay of a single ship cannot cause a shortage. At least two to three months' supply is kept in storage as an emergency reserve.

On his meeting with the prime minister, the minister said Tarique Rahman had asked about the ministry's past, present and planned work, what new activities could be added, where the country's shortfalls lie and which areas are being given priority. The minister's remarks come after days of reports from the districts of queues at dealers' warehouses and of farmers being charged above the fixed price.

From a Krishi Sangbad report. Source: Krishi Sangbad