Jamuna Fertilizer factory produced fertiliser on only three days in the past two years because of the gas shortage, and production at the Ashuganj fertiliser factory has been halted for 19 months. The figures were given by the ministry at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on public undertakings at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on Wednesday, 30 September.
The committee's second meeting in the thirteenth parliament was chaired by its chairman, Chief Whip Nurul Islam Moni. It reviewed the work of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) and its companies and of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), and discussed the production, stocks and distribution of chemical fertiliser in detail.
To ease the fertiliser shortage and cut costs, the committee recommended steps to raise production at home and reduce dependence on imports. It asked the ministry for its plans for the paid-off and closed fertiliser factories, and recommended modernising the older plants to raise their capacity.
The committee also asked for a review of how the licences of dealers who create artificial shortages could be cancelled, and recommended planning a digital real-time monitoring system to keep the fertiliser supply chain in order.
On seed, it recommended the steps needed to make the country self-sufficient in seed production, following the Prime Minister's direction, and asked BADC to present in detail at the next meeting its plans to raise food production in line with population growth.
Committee members Whip Mia Nuruddin Ahammed Apu, Whip Md Akhtaruzzaman Mia and MPs Mosa. Tahsina Rushdir, Khondaker Abu Ashfaq, Mohammad Koysor Ahmed, Md Mustafizur Rahman Bhuiyan and Mohammad Najibur Rahman took part, with the industries secretary and officials of BCIC and BADC.
With domestic plants idle, more of the country's fertiliser demand has to be met by imports, which is why the committee pressed for home production. Its recommendations on reopening the factories, policing dealers and seed supply bear directly on farmers' access to fertiliser and seed.
Photo: Mar11 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Krishi Sangbad
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