Fertiliser monitoring cells have been set up in all 64 districts, State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Sultan Salauddin Tuku told parliament on Wednesday (10 September). He was replying after Mohammad Nazibur Rahman, the member for Pabna-1, raised the fertiliser shortage as a matter of urgent public importance under rule 68.

The state minister said national fertiliser demand is 3,587,000 tonnes while current stocks are 5,171,000 tonnes, leaving a surplus of about 1,584,000 tonnes. Each monitoring cell works under two joint secretaries and deputy secretaries and acts on complaints from anywhere in the country, he said.

On dealerships, he said fertiliser had until now been distributed through dealers appointed under the previous government, of whom about 3,759 have absconded, leaving their dealerships vacant. The government will appoint 4,918 new dealers at union level to fill them, and each will in turn appoint two more dealers in the union. No new appointments had yet been made because applications closed on 10 September.

Addressing the shortage complaints, he said Aman paddy is now at the ripening stage, so farmers' immediate demand is not high; rather, farmers are trying to buy and stock fertiliser for the coming Boro season, which could create excess demand for non-urea fertilisers.

Mir Shahe Alam, state minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives, said stocks were ample compared with the same time last year: as of 9 September, 418,000 tonnes of urea, 343,000 tonnes of TSP, 302,000 tonnes of DAP and 178,900 tonnes of MOP, with a further 128,200 tonnes of TSP, 114,600 tonnes of DAP and 189,400 tonnes of MOP in transit. The country has 1,105 main dealers and 31,600 retail dealers; appointing 8,687 more dealers and 16,000 retail dealers would make distribution smoother, he said.

Based on the BSS parliamentary report as published by Ittefaq. Source: Ittefaq