Staff Reporter :
Following the closure of two major fertilizer factories due to shortage of gas, the government has decided to import fertiliser from the international market even at a higher rate to save the farmers from any crises.
The government has already shut down two fertilizer factories-Jamuna and Chittagong Urea Fertiliser factories due to severe gas crisis.
“The Prime Minister has said there should be no shortage of fertiliser for the farmers regardless of the lack of gas supply. Fertiliser will be imported and more subsidies will be given if needed,” Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque told a seminar on “Year-long Production of Nutritious and High Value Fruits” at the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARC) in the city on Saturday.
On the Prime Minister’s instruction to procure fertiliser from the international market at a higher rate, he said the PM had asked to discuss the issue with the finance ministry.
“The farmers are enjoying the benefit of reduced fertiliser prices. We have reduced the price of the fertilizer paid the highest amount of subsidy for fertiliser,” he said.
Razaque said that a crisis of food was a pressing issue worldwide due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the entire globe was trying to tackle it.
Bangladesh, however, is already in a fix over the huge subsidies it provides for fertilizers.
The Finance Ministry has already asked the Agriculture Ministry to reduce the amount of subsidy, according to him.
Subsidies in fertilizer for the ongoing 2021-22 fiscal year will reach Tk28,000 crore due to price hike in the international market, the minister said then, before adding the government had set asideTk9,500 crore in the budget for subsidies.
Bangladesh consumes approximately 6.9 million tonnes of chemical fertilizers annually. The four major imported chemical fertilizers are urea, triple super phosphate, diammonium phosphate, and MOP. The demand for the imported fertilizers has been reduced to 5.5 million tons in FY23.
Some 80 per cent of the total domestic demand is met through imports.
