Some dishonest fertilizer traders are selling fertilizers at higher prices by deceiving the farmers of Chatmohar upazila of Pabna district as less monitoring has been done by agricultural department this year. As a result, farmers are being forced to buy fertilizer at a higher price than the price fixed by the government.
The Fertilizer Management and Monitoring Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Bangladesh has been instructed to ensure distribution of the allotted fertilizer to the farmers at the price fixed by the government. But fertilizer traders are often violate this and selling fertilizer at a higher price. Dealers, sub-dealers, retailers are not giving any receipt to the buyers. And unaware farmers are not able to know the price fixed by the government as the sub-dealers have not displayed the price list.
In February 2022, 939 metric tons of Tunisian TSP fertilizer, 2957metric tons of Moroccan DAP fertilizer and 883 metric tons of Russian MOP fertilizer were distributed in Pabna district . From this allocation of the district, the TSP of Chatmohar sub-allotment is meant to be sold at Tk 1100 per bag, urea at Tk 800 per bag, DAP at Tk 800 But all these fertilizers are being sold at higher prices in Chatmohar. TSP at Tk 1400 to 1500 per sacks and MOP at Tk 1100 per sacks are being sold. Granular MOP is being sold for Tk 1300.
Although the sub-dealers are supposed to supply fertilizer at government prices, the dealers of Chatmohar are selling fertilizer to the sub-dealers at higher prices. Retailers are buying at higher prices and selling at a profit to the farmers.
Dealers claim that they are selling fertilizers at the prices fixed by the government, but sub-dealers and retailers say that dealers are charging higher prices. These three classes of people are not getting fertilizer at a fair price due to their tendency to make more profit and lack of monitoring by the agriculture office. As a result, there has been widespread dissatisfaction among them.
Sadananda Saha, sales representative of Haripur Union dealer Anand Saha, said they were selling urea fertilizer at Tk 800 per bag (50 kg), TSP at Tk 1,100, DAP at Tk 800 and MOP at Tk 750.
On the other hand, Abdur Rahman, a sub-dealer in Ramnagar block and other sub-dealers blamed the dealers who are selling fertilizers at higher prices and not giving any receipt.
Rezaul Karim, a farmer from Katenga village, complained that he had recently bought MOP and TSP fertilizer from a sub-dealer in Chatmohar Thana Bazar area. He took the price of MOP fertilizer at Tk 22 per kg and TSP fertilizer at Tk 28 per kg.
Dealers are selling fertilizers at arbitrary prices by importing fertilizers from other places in an unethical manner. Although there is a rule for dealers to sell fertilizers at the union level, some dealers do not follow this rule and sell fertilizers in the municipality. This increases the transportation cost of the farmer.
In this regard, Masum Billah Chatmohar Upazila Agriculture Officer said that the allocation of MOP fertilizer was less in February. Farmers are being encouraged to use DAP fertilizer as the price of TSP fertilizer is high. Some traders may charge a little more. And proper action will be taken against all these dishonest traders.
Saikat Islam President of the Seed Fertilizer Monitoring Committee and Upazila Nirbahi Officer said, "No farmer has complained to me about the higher price of the fertilizer. If the fertilizer traders do such thing, I will monitor and take legal action against those dishonest traders.”