Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star, 16 May 2008

The government will procure one lakh tonne of wheat from the international market at about Tk 32 per kilogram (kg) after failing to buy the grain locally as its market price is higher than the government-fixed price.

The advisory committee on purchase at a meeting yesterday approved the procurement proposal of the food ministry.

The government had earlier set a target of procuring 50,000 tonnes of wheat from local market this season fixing the purchase price at Tk 26 per kg.

Food ministry officials, however, said they could not buy any wheat from local market as the market price was higher than the price the government fixed for wheat procurement, adding that the deadline for the procurement is about to end.

The proposal placed by the food ministry said 70,000 tonnes of wheat would be imported at $ 446 per tonne (Tk 31.22 per kg) through the Chittagong port.

The rest will be imported at $456 per tonne (Tk 31.92 per kg) through the Mongla port.

Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, who presided over the meeting, told journalists that purchase of wheat at high prices from the international market will not have any adverse impact on the prices of the grain in local market, rather it would help boost wheat supply in the market.

“The market price will be high if the government itself fixes a high price for procurement,” he added.

The committee also approved another proposal placed by the communications ministry for appointing a consultant for its Dhaka-Chittagong Highway four-lane conversion project.

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.

United News of Bangladesh . Chapainawabganj, The Daily New Age, 10 November 2007

FARMERS of Chapainawabganj may not achieve the target of boro and wheat cultivation due to acute seed crisis.
   According to the local Department of Agriculture Extension, a target has been set to cultivate boro on 44,940 hectares of land while wheat on 15,000 hectares in the district during the current season. The farmers need 990 tonnes of boro seeds and 1,800 tonnes of wheat seeds to achieve the target.
   A number of farmers said they would start preparing boro seedbeds and wheat cultivation in the middle of the current month. But they are apprehending that they might not achieve the target as the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation and its appointed dealers have failed to supply them with adequate seeds.
   The farmers said usually they store seeds every season but they failed to store seeds this year due to flood and other natural calamities and were now depending on BADC’s seed due to its high quality and reasonable price.
   Local agricultural officials, however, denied the seed crisis and said that farmers had stocked sufficient despite natural calamities but they were depending on BADC’s seeds due to its high quality and reasonable price.
   Assistant director of the local BADC Hasan Toufiqur Rahman said the BADC received 75 tonnes of seeds for boro cultivation in the district and of the total, 14 tonnes were sanctioned for its sale centre and the rest seed to its 16 dealers. He also said the sale centre sold out the seeds during the last part of October and dealers had almost finished their quota. He further said the BADC had urged the higher authorities to sanction more seven tonnes of boro seed to meet the increasing demand.
   BADC officials said 130 tonnes of wheat seeds had been allocated for the district, which will be available within a week. The farmers will have to manage the rest of the seeds.