Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid, minister for agriculture and for fisheries and livestock, has opened a fertiliser warehouse with a capacity of 6,000 tonnes at Gabtoli in Dhaka. Speaking at the opening on Sunday, he said it was not enough to have fertiliser in store; it had to reach farmers on time and at a fair price.
If farmers do not get fertiliser when they need it, the minister said, production suffers, costs rise and crops are put at risk. Coordination, transparency and accountability were needed at every stage, from procurement and storage to transport and distribution. Stock and distribution records must be checked regularly, with no room for irregularity, corruption, waste or artificial shortages, and action taken under the rules wherever wrongdoing was proved.
Stressing technology, he said the daily inflow and outflow of fertiliser at the roughly 200 warehouses of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) should be recorded digitally and sent at once to the officials responsible, so that stocks can be monitored, decisions made quickly and supply kept transparent. Demand for fertiliser is growing, he added, as crops diversify and growing seasons lengthen.
Reminding the audience that fertiliser is a heavily subsidised input, he called for the subsidy to be used properly. On soil health, he said years of applying fertiliser without soil tests or regard to fertility had upset the soil's acidity balance. The government has taken up a nationwide soil improvement programme to restore it, with research and preparation under way. Matching fertiliser to the soil, he said, would cut demand and give higher yields from less fertiliser.
He told BADC staff to guarantee that quality seed and fertiliser reach farmers at the right time. The event was chaired by BADC chairman Md Azizul Islam, with agriculture secretary Md Selim Khan and Department of Agricultural Extension director general Md Abdur Rahim also speaking. The minister earlier unveiled the warehouse's plaque.
The report is by a Krishi Shomoy staff reporter.
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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