The government has spent about Tk 1,52,653 crore on farm subsidies over the past 16 years to keep fertiliser cheap for farmers, about 98 percent of it on fertiliser, and has set aside Tk 17,000 crore for fertiliser and farm incentives in the 2026-27 budget. Allegations that subsidised fertiliser disappears in transit, is sold on the black market or is smuggled to Myanmar are raising fresh concern.

In just two days the Coast Guard seized 78 tonnes of urea on the Chattogram coast. Before dawn on Friday, 960 bags (48 tonnes) worth about Tk 33.6 lakh were seized at Ichhakhali ghat in Mirsarai as they were loaded from trucks onto a fishing boat; on Thursday, 600 bags (30 tonnes) worth about Tk 21 lakh were seized at Banshbaria ghat in Sitakunda as they were moved onto a cargo boat. Five trucks, two boats and five people were held in the two operations.

Several large cases of irregularities in moving government fertiliser are under investigation or in court. A BCIC inquiry found that 72,000 tonnes of government fertiliser handled by Dhaka's Poton Traders never reached the warehouses, a loss of Tk 582 crore; BCIC has sued to recover Tk 1,163 crore. Chattogram's Nabab and Company is accused of failing to deliver 66,874 tonnes of the 1,83,456 tonnes of urea imported from Qatar and Saudi Arabia to buffer warehouses, worth an estimated Tk 619 crore and more.

People involved say tactics such as selling fertiliser on the open market instead of delivering it from the port to the warehouse, or selling high at the peak of the season and buying back cheaper later to fill the warehouse, have kept the benefit of the subsidy from marginal farmers. Complaints of farmers failing to get fertiliser, of overcharging, hoarding and artificial shortages are emerging in the field.

The Department of Agricultural Extension puts this year's total fertiliser requirement at about 6.77 million tonnes: 2.62 million tonnes of urea, 1.35 million of DAP, 970,000 of MoP and more than 915,000 of TSP. About 1.4 million tonnes of urea is needed in the December-March Boro season; urea stocks stood at about 376,000 tonnes on 13 September. Because of risks to Middle East supply routes, the government has moved to source urea from Russia, Malaysia and Brunei.

Officials say farmers need not panic. The BCIC chairman, after inspecting buffer warehouses on 14 September, said urea stocks were sufficient until November, and three domestic factories are producing about 5,000 tonnes a day. On 16 September 44 private firms were approved to import 920,000 tonnes of non-urea fertiliser, and on 23 September the purchase of another 155,000 tonnes of MoP and DAP from Canada, Russia and Saudi Arabia was approved.

Reported by Dainik Azadi, Chattogram.

Source: Dainik Azadi