The commission paid to government-appointed fertiliser dealers is being raised by Tk 1 a kg on all types of fertiliser, to Tk 3.

Although announced now, the new commission will not take effect this fiscal year; dealers will receive the new rate from July next year. The government took the decision to encourage distribution at dealer level while keeping fertiliser supply and market management normal for farm production.

The order was issued on Monday (14 September) by Budget Wing-1 of the Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance. It says the sale price of fertiliser to farmers will remain unchanged, while the dealer commission has been reset at Tk 3 a kg.

Under the decision, the dealer price of urea has been cut from Tk 25 to Tk 24 a kg, DAP from Tk 19 to Tk 18, TSP from Tk 25 to Tk 24 and MoP from Tk 18 to Tk 17. The farm-level price of these four subsidised fertilisers is not rising.

Dealers in the fertiliser distribution system had long been asking for a higher commission. They say rising electricity and fuel prices have increased transport and labour costs as well as the cost of running their shops. Their organisation, the Bangladesh Fertilizer Association (BFA), had been asking the government to raise the commission since 2015.

According to BFA sources, the commission was last reset in 2008, at Tk 2. The government has now decided to raise it nearly two decades later.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.