Staff Reporter :
The government has hiked the price of Urea fertilizer to Tk 22 per kilogram from Tk 16 for farmers as the price of fertilizer has increased globally.
Farmers are worried following the announcement of price hike of fertilizer as they think the cost of production will go up and it is very likely most farmers will be unwilling to cultivate rice and other agro products.
If this happens, it will hit the country’s food security hard.
Mohammad Quader, 45, a farmer of Tangail district, said, “We are already overburdened with the cost of rice production because the prices of fuel, day labourer and other costs have gone up extremely. But we are not getting fair price against our cost.”
“Government’s decision to increase price of fertiliser will cause heavy loss in agricultural produces. Now I have to think whether I will cultivate paddy and vegetables or not,” he told The New Nation on Monday.
The government announcement came in just five days after Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina does not want to increase fertiliser price in the country for the sake of the country’s farmers despite global price hike.
However, the ministry of agriculture set the price in a circular published on Monday and the new price has already been effective from this day.
The government has fixed the price at Tk 20 per kg at the dealer level, which was Tk 14.
Price of urea fertilizer is Tk 81 per kg in the international market.
The government, however, has to pay a subsidy of Tk 59 per kg at this moment despite raising the retail price by Tk 6.
The government had to pay a subsidy of only Tk 15 per kg in the fiscal year 2005-06.
Demand for Urea this year has been estimated to be 26 lakh tonnes. Of the total demand 10.5 lakh tonnes will be produced from the country’s fertiliser factories and the rest will be imported.
The subsidy given by the government for fertilizer has also increased four times.
The subsidy cost for Urea was Tk 7,717 crore in the fiscal year 2020-21 and Tk 28,000 crore was spent as subsidy in the financial year 2021-22.
According to the circular published by the agriculture ministry on Monday, it was said that there is sufficient stock of all kinds of fertilizers in the country against the demand.
The demand of Urea fertiliser in the country during Aman season (July-September) is 6.19 lakh tonnes.
Meanwhile, the country has a stock of 7.27 lakh tonnes, which is about 1 lakh tonnes more than the requirement at this moment.
For the Aman season, there is stock of 3,09,000 tonnes TSP against a demand of 1,19000 tonnes.
There is a stock of 6,34000 tonnes DAP against a demand of 2,25000 tonnes.
The country has a stock of 2,10000 tonnes MOP against a demand of 1,37000 tonnes.
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque on 20 July said that his ministry was trying to find alternative sources from where the much-needed Urea fertilizer could be purchased.
The current agriculture-friendly government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reduced the price of fertilisers four times since 2009 and is delivering sufficient fertilisers at the doorsteps of farmers at very low prices.
Meanwhile, Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertiliser contains 18% nitrogen or the main ingredient of Urea fertiliser.
That is why the government reduced the price of DAP fertiliser from Tk 90 to Tk 16 per kg to reduce the unnecessary and excessive use of urea fertiliser by increasing the use of DAP.
As a result of this initiative, the use of DAP fertilizer has doubled in the last few years. In 2019, 8 lakh tonnes of DAP was used, currently 16 lakh tonnes are being used.
However, the use of Urea fertilizer has not decreased, rather it has increased further. In 2019, about 25 lakh tonnes of Urea was used, and it is estimated that 26 lakh 50 thousand tonnes of Urea will be used this year.
On the other hand, the price of fertilisers has increased by about 3-4 times in the international market over the last one year..
