Farmers demanding fertiliser blocked a road in the Kachakata area of Nageshwari upazila, Kurigram, on Friday and confined a sub-assistant agriculture officer inside a fertiliser warehouse. The incident began at 8 in the morning at Gabtola bazar in Ballaver Khas union, under Kachakata police station. The upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) later freed the officer under police protection.

Fertiliser was to be distributed to farmers from 8am at the dealer point Bhai Bhai Machineries in the bazar. The dealer, however, began at dawn and had finished before 8. Farmers who arrived at the scheduled hour and found none confined sub-assistant agriculture officer Rafiqul Islam in the warehouse and blocked the Madarganj-Bhurungamari road with tree trunks, halting traffic.

The officer was kept in the warehouse under police guard. At about 12 noon, UNO Mohammad Alauddin reached the spot and took him out under police security.

Rafiqul Islam says 80 sacks of fertiliser were distributed at the dealer point, that distribution began at 7:30am and was orderly, and that several hundred farmers arrived after it had ended and heated the situation.

Arpan Kumar, officer-in-charge of Kachakata police station, says some farmers blocked the road over fertiliser and lifted the blockade after police intervened; there was no untoward incident.

UNO Mohammad Alauddin says the distribution was fair but the number of farmers exceeded the supply, which created the situation. Farmers have been promised fertiliser, he says, and a requisition for a further allocation has been sent.

The anger of smallholders in the north over fertiliser supply during the aman season shows how quickly opacity about a dealer's allocation and distribution timing can turn into confrontation in the field.

Based on a report by Samakal's Kurigram correspondent.

Source: Samakal