Fertiliser is short in several districts this Aman season. Farmers have protested in some areas after failing to get supplies, and in others they are paying above the fixed price.

Costlier seed, pesticide and labour had already pushed up the cost of growing Aman paddy.

Into that came the diesel increase. Under the government's decision, the price rose from Tk 115 to Tk 135 a litre.

Diesel is the main fuel for irrigation pumps in Bangladesh. A higher price lifts the cost of running shallow tube wells, of threshing and of hauling the crop, all at once.

Production costs will therefore rise in the current season, and new doubt hangs over the coming Boro season, which depends entirely on irrigation.

Farmers in char areas including Subarnachar in Noakhali say taking the fertiliser blow and the fuel blow together is becoming hard to bear.

If the paddy price does not rise in proportion to costs, it is the smallholder who absorbs the loss.

Source: Chashabad