With the rabi season approaching, the agriculture office in Jaldhaka upazila of Nilphamari is changing the way fertiliser reaches farmers. Genuine farmers will draw their fertiliser against a 'fertiliser card', a step the office says is meant to bring order, transparency and accountability to distribution.

According to the upazila agriculture officer's office, each card will carry the farmer's photograph, name, address, national identity card number and the amount of land farmed. Every time a farmer collects fertiliser, the card will record the quantity, the crop it is for and the date. The department expects this to ensure that each farmer receives what they are entitled to and to narrow the room for irregularities.

Sub-assistant agriculture officers have already collected farmers' details in the upazila's blocks and begun handing out the cards. The plan is to bring every farmer in the upazila under the scheme; Jaldhaka has more than 60,000 farmers.

The department said farmer cards had been made nationwide before, but the lists were never updated afterwards. This time, ahead of the rabi season, sub-assistant agriculture officers are drawing up a fresh list of genuine farmers, and temporary fertiliser cards are being issued on the basis of that list.

"This will reduce the chance of anyone other than a genuine farmer taking fertiliser," said upazila agriculture officer Mizanur Rahman. "A record will also be kept of how much fertiliser each farmer has taken, so genuine farmers will get the fertiliser they need at a fair price."

The department hopes that an updated list and a written record of every allocation will keep farmers' fertiliser out of other hands during the rabi season and let each farmer draw according to entitlement.

Reported by Bidhan Chandra Roy, Nilphamari.

Source: Agri Barta