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Rejaul Karim Byron, The Daily Star, 20 May 2008
The government will import five lakh tonnes of fertiliser from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar under state arrangement to ease fertiliser crisis and boost rice production in the next fiscal year.
A high-level committee led by the industries secretary has already held talks with the authorities concerned paying visit to the three countries.
The proposal for importing urea may be placed before the Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs today.
The three countries have already sent draft contract letters to Bangladesh authorities following discussions between the committee and the authorities concerned.
Qatar Fertiliser Company, QAFCO, has already informed Bangladesh that it can export two lakh tonnes of urea as per the proposal prepared by the industries ministry. Qatar has also expressed its interest to export more urea, if necessary.
The UAE in principle has also agreed to export 80,000 to 1 lakh tonne of urea while Saudi Arabia has consented to export one lakh tonne.
Industries ministry officials said the government would set an import target of five lakh tonnes of urea while signing the final agreement.
“The fertiliser prices are going up in the international market. Urea was sold at $769 to $784 a tonne last month, while it was $408 last year. Therefore, the industries ministry asked the government to make a quick decision on fertiliser import,” said a ministry official.
The three countries have asked Bangladesh to inform them of its decision quickly, he said, adding that otherwise they might export the fertiliser to other countries.
The industries ministry in its proposal said although the Public Procurement Regulations-2003 will be violated through the import of fertiliser at the state-level, it is important to approve the proposal considering the government’s high priority on agriculture and food crisis in the country.
Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed in February instructed the industries ministry to make necessary preparation for dealing with any possible fertiliser crisis in the country, sources in the industries ministry said.
Following the chief adviser’s instructions, an inter-ministerial meeting in April this year set the demand for urea at 28.5 lakh tonnes for the next fiscal year.
Of this, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will produce 17 lakh tonnes of urea, while the government will purchase five lakh tonnes from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company and import seven lakh tonnes.
Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star, 21 May 2008
The government yesterday exempted from the Public Procurement Regulations fertiliser import from three countries for direct import under a state-to-state arrangement to ease fertiliser crisis and boost rice production in the next fiscal year.
“Nowadays it has become very difficult to purchase fertiliser and our last year’s experience is that we did not even get response from traders after floating tenders,” Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said.
“That is why, we have initiated the process to import fertiliser under the state-to-state arrangement,” he told reporters after a meeting of the advisory committee on economic affairs.
Following the advisory committee’s consent, the industries ministry will begin the process to import 5 lakh tonnes of fertiliser from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar without floating international tenders.
The Qatar Fertiliser Company has already informed Bangladesh that it can export 2 lakh tonnes of urea as per the proposal of the industries ministry. Qatar has also expressed interest to export more urea, if necessary.
The UAE has also agreed in principle to export 80,000 to 1 lakh tonnes of urea while Saudi Arabia has consented to export 1 lakh tonne.
Industries ministry officials said the government would set an import target of 5 lakh tonnes of urea while signing the final agreement.
An inter-ministerial meeting last month set the urea demand for the next fiscal year at 28.5 lakh tonnes.
Of this, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will produce 17 lakh tonnes while the government will purchase 5 lakh tonnes from the Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company and import 6.5 lakh tonnes.
Our Correspondent, Sirajganj, The Daily Star, 05 September 2007, Wednesday
With recession of flood water, there are signs of devastation all around but farmers are in fields with new hopes to grow Amon paddy and early winter vegetables. Sirajganj was the worst affected district with most areas of its nine upazilas reeling under waters from Mighty Jamauna this year.
According to district agriculture officials’ estimate, at least Tk 72 crore crops including paddy, jute, sugarcane and vegetables on 47,407 hectares were damaged by flood.
Sources in Agriculture Extension Department (AED) said there are 56,124 hectares of cultivable land in 81 unions in nine upazilas of the district. The flood damaged crops on 22,762 hectares fully and 24,645 hectares partially, affecting about 230000 families.
With recession of flood water, AED with assistance of district administration and Army has taken a post flood rehabilitation programme. Under the programme, the government has sanctioned Tk 4 crore and Tk 2 crore of it has been made available to assist farmers in cultivation of rice and vegetables, AED sources said.
This correspondent visited different areas of the district, where farmers said they face crisis Amon seedlings and fertilizer, which hamper cultivation. They are collecting seedlings from far away places at high prices as the seedbeds had gone under flood water.
Adul Kader of Tarash said that he sowed Amon seeds on one and half bigha of land. All reeled under water. He has purchased seedlings at Tk 300 per 80 bundles which were sold at between Tk 70 and Tk 80 last year.
AED officials said they have set a target to bring 50220 hectares under Amon cultivation.
Many farmers said they are transplanting Amon seedlings for the second time in about a month as the first transplantation was damaged by flood.
Some farmers said they have borrowed from local moneylenders to cultivate crops after flood.
All of them said they now need smooth supply of fertiliser.
A hiogh official of the district administration seeking anonymity said the government allotment of Tk 2 crore is too inadequate to the needs.
AED Deputy Director Khandaker Hasibur Rahman said they are preparing lists of affected farmers who will get the assistance.
He said about 89,033 tonnes of urea fertiliser are needed for the district this season but they have a stock of about 3755.50 tonnes.
Army sources said they have also started seedlings distribution among affected farmers. As a part of the programme, Bogra Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Emadul Huq (PSC) distributed seedlings among farmers at Ghurka Beltola on 25 August. Brig. Gen. A K M Mahfuzul Huq (PSC) also distributed seedlings at Raiganj on 29 August.
FE Report, The Daily Financial Express, 10 November 2007
Farmers in the northern districts are facing scarcity of fertilisers and seeds, which may affect cultivation of Rabi crops and Boro paddy.
They have said the problems will not only escalate the production costs of those food items but also will reduce their production.
Some farmers from northern districts have complained about short supply of fertilisers and seeds of potato, wheat, Boro rice and other Rabi crops.
Salahuddin Khan, a farmer in Rajshahi district, Friday said the farmers hardly get necessary fertilisers — urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), triple-supper phosphate (TSP) and muriate of potash (MoP) – from the dealers or from the open markets.
“Now we are preparing lands for cultivation of potato, which requires use of DAP, MoP, TSP and Urea to augment the production. But the DAP is being sold at Tk 1900 to 2200 and MoP at Tk 1600 to 1800 per 50-kilogram (kg) bag in the market. The unusual high prices have put us in difficulties so far as cultivation of potato and other Rabi crops is concerned,” he said.
According to Agriculture ministry sources, the normal prices of DAP, MoP and TSP at farmers’ level are Tk 950 to Tk1050, Tk 750 to Tk850 and Tk 750 to Tk850 per bag respectively.
Meanwhile, another farmer in the same area Akbar Ali said: “We are being forced to procure potato seeds at high rate from the market due to short supply.”
“The suppliers are selling potato seeds at Tk 3000 to Tk3500 per 40-kg bag instead of Tk 1600-Tk2000 in the last season,” he stated.
Agro-economists feel if the fertilisers are not available in the market, the farmers will be discouraged to cultivate Rabi crops like potato, wheat, and Boro paddy in the post-flood period, which might create scarcity of food in local markets in the future.
Terming the scarcity as temporary, an agriculture ministry official Friday claimed that the problem would be over as the imported agricultural inputs would be made available shortly.
“The importers stopped import of fertiliser for about one and a half months (August-September) due to non-payment of their dues on account of subsidy by the government. The postponement has affected the fertiliser supply at the moment,” he said.
He, however, said the traders resumed import from early last month.
Usually the private sector and the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) import the fertilisers including TSP, MoP and DAP while the state-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) brings in urea.
President of the Bangladesh Fertiliser Association (BFA), Kafil Uddin Ahmad told the FE that import and supply of fertiliser had been boosted.
The President of BFA, a platform of the fertiliser importers, said 50,000 tonnes of TSP and 18,000 tonnes of MoP have been supplied to the government appointed dealers in order to market those at the farmers’ level.
The government has also given them (importers) permission to import 0.1 million tonnes of DAP from the international markets, he stated.
Besides, he said, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) would supply 0.15 million tonnes of DAP from the local production units.
Under an arrangement with the importers, the government this year will provide 15 per cent subsidy to the private sector importers on the value of their imported fertilisers to ensure supply of the farm input to the farmers at a lower price.
Agriculture ministry sources said about 60 per cent of the total annual demand for fertiliser is needed during the Robi and Boro season.
During the season – from November to March– demand for DAP is over 0.25 million tonnes and TSP and MoP is around 0.35 million tonnes each.
Meanwhile, the annual demand for Urea is around 2.8 million tonnes, TSP 0.475 million tonnes, MoP 0.4 million tonnes and DAP 0.3 million tonnes, the sources informed.
With the aman harvest lost to the wrath of nature this season, the farmers would now look to the coming boro season to recover their losses and pay off some debts. It will also be an opportunity for the military-driven interim government to revive the rural economy, which has been hit hard this year, writes Tanim Ahmed , The New Age, 26 November 2007
IN THE context of a bad aman harvest, brought about by the back-to-back floods earlier this year and cyclone Sidr that ravaged the southern parts of the country on November 15, it is imperative that farmers should be able to procure fertiliser in sufficient quantity as and when required. It is imperative not for the rehabilitation of the farmers alone but also for the rejuvenation of the economy. Aman is a low-cost, rain-fed harvest. It is almost a bonus for the farmers as they do not have to put in that much effort. Weed the land a couple of times, spread over fertiliser and take your harvest home – it is almost as simple as that. The aman season is also the much-needed lifeline for the cash-strapped marginal farmers who use most of the money they get from the aman sales as investment in the winter crops during boro season.
With the aman harvest lost to the wrath of nature this season, the farmers would now look to the coming boro season to recover their losses and pay off some debts. It will also be an opportunity for the military-driven interim government to revive the rural economy, which has been hit hard this year. The season should mark the beginning of a revival for the rural economy, which would take at least a year to get back on its feet again. Thus, the government should be fully committed to providing the farmers with whatever assistance they need to ensure a satisfactory boro harvest. Towards that end, as has already been suggested by different quarters, there should be provisions for debt write-off – suspended interest on previous farm loans at the least – along with interest-free or low-interest fresh loans. There is little chance for the government to directly intervene in the market, given its professed adherence to open market economy; still, it can at least provide direct subsidies on the basis of land ownership or any other system whereby the farmers receive monetary assistance to buy seeds, fertiliser and fuel for irrigation. It should also ensure that rural communities engaged in agriculture get adequate power supply for irrigation, where such provisions are available, since it is cheaper to run irrigation pumps with electricity than with diesel.
Thus far, the government has not seemingly lived up to the expectations. Newspaper reports have it that farmers are still desperate for fertiliser. A New Age spot report quotes farmers as saying they have not been able to procure sufficient amounts of fertiliser for the winter crops in the boro season and are becoming increasingly anxious the time for applying fertiliser to their lands nears end. The government insists that it has enough fertiliser in stock; however, the situation on the ground seems to suggest that the stock is sitting idle somewhere between the government warehouse and the dealers. According to the Bangla daily Jaijaidin, although there are sufficient stocks of fertiliser, the farmers are finding it difficult to procure as much as they need. Apparently, the government has put in place a new system of fertiliser distribution. Sub-assistant agriculture officers – formerly block supervisors – make lists of farmers in the locality and allot certain amounts of fertiliser based on their land ownership. Slips are issued by the agriculture officers in coordination with public representatives of the union level, for instance a member or chairman of the union council, against such allotments. The farmers are not allowed to buy more fertiliser from local dealers than is mentioned in the slips issued to them.
The dealers also cannot procure fertiliser as much as they want. They can only get as much as the total requirement of the particular area, again based on the landownership estimate. The government allots the recommended amount of fertiliser to the corresponding deputy commissioners who then distribute it to the dealers in that district. It is rather obvious that this elaborate system, however complicated, aims to prevent pilferage and black marketing or smuggling of fertiliser. The system, at least in theory, also ensures that farmers get the amount of fertiliser that they deserve. However, a New Age report quotes farmers as saying this system is not functional and does not help them at all.
There are two practical problems that this system does not address which could give rise to serious discontent. First, the system precludes the possibility that the owner of a land may not live in the same locality, which makes it impossible for a farmer to get fertiliser if he lives in one union and owns a piece of land in another. In one union, he is landless and in another his land has an absentee owner, which the local ward member or union council chairman would corroborate. Even if he manages a slip somehow, then the problem is which dealer to go to. Because the dealers’ allocation is strictly accounted for, someone from another union or someone who does not own land in a union would not be sold fertiliser. The second problem relates to absentee landowners. Block supervisors make their lists according to land ownership regardless of how much land each farmer has leased out for that season. In cases where the owner lives in a far-off city it would be virtually impossible to get fertiliser for that piece of land.
Besides, due to the overarching importance of securing a slip, the farmers become desperate to get one or more if they can. In the process they end up paying bribes to their local ward member or the union chairman and there have been reports that several people have been given slips for the same piece of land whereas those who refused to pay the ‘extra’ have been deprived. The agriculture official, it has been alleged, did not survey the area of his jurisdiction but merely made up a list of people sitting at home and issued slips accordingly.
The dealers, on their part, also have to bribe the executive authorities such as the chief executive of the upazila or the deputy commissioner in order to get sufficient allotment according to the local demands. There have been reports where different dealers with similar amount of land area under their jurisdiction have been allotted markedly different amounts of fertilisers that make it obvious that one is getting over the limit and the other is being deprived.
This is perhaps a good example of a sincere attempt gone awry due to practical difficulties that were not foreseen. The government’s point of view and intention is quite clear and rather reasonable given the serious crisis of fertiliser every year. While private dealers advocate for complete deregulation of the sector and full primacy of the private operators, the government should not scrap the new system altogether. Complete dominance of the private sector without proper regulation or monitoring would result in the same kind of price hike as the market is witnessing in case of essential food items.
The fertiliser distribution system was also supposed to have some form of monitoring but those committees apparently have become ineffective with no course for redress in case of deprivation and irregularity as there seems to be in the current situation. This new programme quite rightly involves the government expert, the agriculture official and the people’s representative at the field level which should be considered ideal. However, there appears to be no effective checks and balances within the system that will prevent the irregularity or rent-seeking. That part of the system must be tweaked and modified to suit the interest of the farmers. So far there have been numerous reports of the fertiliser not going to the farmers, along with reports of ‘slip business’ and irregularities but the government is yet to take any effective or exemplary measures as regards fertiliser distribution.
Whatever the decision, the incumbents have to act fast. Regardless of the ingenuity of its decision to modify the current system of fertiliser distribution it would be of little value once the planting season is over. On the other hand, a system that does not get the input from the godowns to the farm is ineffective in the final analysis, regardless of the intention behind it. The incumbents must realise that the ultimate measure of any of their exercises would be the welfare of the people. If the people are not better off, in terms employment, income or standard of living, the incumbents will be deemed to have failed in their essential duty of governing the state.
Our Correspondent . Rangpur, The Daily New Age, 30 November 2007
Farmers of Nobdiganj and Kolyani unions under Pirgachha upazila blocked the Rangpur-Kurigram highway for about two hours Thursday demanding fertilisers.
Locals and police said several hundred vehicles remained stranded on both ways, causing enormous trouble to the passengers.
A huge number of farmers of the two unions gathered in front of the shop of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation dealer Kashem Patwari for collecting coupons for TSP and MoP fertilisers from sub assistant agriculture officer sitting there.
The agriculture official stopped issuing slips at about 10:00 am as the dealer’s shop ran out of the stock of TSP and MoP.
This angered the large crowd of farmers waiting in queues for hours. An angry mob then blocked Rangpur-Kurigram highway from 10:00 am until police and members of the joint forces cleared the road at about 12:00 noon.
