Farmers in Saltha upazila of Faridpur say the fertiliser market is in the grip of a group of dealers and retailers just as they plant onion seedlings for the Rabi season. A 50 kg sack of DAP or TSP at the government price of Tk 1,050 is costing them Tk 1,600 to 1,700, or Tk 300 to 700 more, banglanews24 reported.
Milu Sheikh of Khoyargram said he needs to prepare onion seedbeds now, but dealers give only 15 kg at the government price when he needs at least three sacks; pay more on the quiet and a full sack appears. Farmer Lovelu Matubbar said that if you go openly you are told there is no fertiliser, but there is no shortage for anyone willing to pay extra, and only regular monitoring would bring fair prices.
Farmer Golam Mowla said crops already fetch poor prices, so how can farmers survive paying Tk 700 more a sack? Saltha grows onion, garlic and vegetables widely in the Rabi season, and locals say the group is exploiting the rise in demand, along with illegal stockpiling by retail shops. Several dealers are also accused of selling without receipts and not displaying the official price list.
The upazila administration and agriculture department say there is no shortage. Upazila agriculture officer Ahsanul Habib Al Azad said two dealers had recently been fined for irregularities, field monitoring was regular and strict action followed any specific complaint.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Dabir Uddin said there was no fertiliser deficit in the upazila; anyone selling above the set price faced legal action, several had already been fined by mobile courts, and the drives would continue.
Local farmers say the extra fertiliser cost at the start of the onion season is pushing up their production costs directly.
Reporting: Harun-or-Rashid, banglanews24. Photo: Hassanrakib04 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: banglanews24
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