Huge fertiliser under open sky
Urea piled up in godowns as dealers take only a little delivery due to delay in boro farming
Huge quantity of fertiliser kept in the open space beside Baghabari buffer godown in Pabna district as it remains almost undelivered from the loaded warehouse due to delay in boro cultivation in the ongoing peak season.Photo: STAR
Several lakh bags of imported urea fertiliser have been kept under the open sky on the bank of River Jamuna at Nagarbari in Pabna and Baghabari port in Sirajganj due to space shortage in buffer godowns. Local sources apprehend that the urea fertiliser to be used for the upcoming Boro season in 16 northern districts would be damaged if there is sudden rain. As Boro cultivation is delayed in the northern region this season due to fog and dry weather, dealers are not taking delivery of their portion of fertiliser, said an official of a buffer godown. The fertiliser bags have now been kept on the open space as all the 14 buffer godowns in the region have already been filled up with fertiliser, said Sudev Kumar, in-charge of the buffer godown at Baghabari port. The buffer godown at Baghabari port has capacity to preserve 6,000 metric tons (MT) of fertiliser but at least 9,000 MT of fertiliser are kept there, he said. Finding no other way, contractors have piled up fertiliser under the open sky around the port. “I delivered only 100 MT of fertiliser on Monday although this is the high time for giving delivery of fertiliser for Boro cultivation. In the past years, we used to deliver 2,000 to 2,500 MT of fertiliser every day during this period,” said Sudev. As the demand for fertilisers was very low in January this year, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation fixed a delivery target of only 4,000 MT of fertiliser for the month but dealers did not withdraw their portion of fertiliser from buffer godowns, he said. Meanwhile, over 18,000 MT of fertiliser have already come to the port for distribution in February, adding to the problem of space shortage in the godowns. “Farmers are not buying fertilisers due to delay in Boro cultivation. So, fertiliser traders and dealers do not take delivery of fertiliser," said Md Idris Ali Biswas, president of Pabna district fertiliser dealers association. They urged the government several times to set up new buffer stock at Nagarbari ghat for easy transportation and preservation of fertilisers to meet any crisis but no step has been taken yet, he said. During a visit to Nagarbari ghat yesterday, this correspondent saw huge fertiliser kept under the open sky. Nagarbari ghat is used for easy transportation of fertiliser to northern districts as movement of fertiliser-laden vessels is hampered in Aricha-Baghabari channel due to navigability problem every year, said Md Rafiqul Islam, a labourer handler at Nagarbari ghat.
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