Farmers worried as urea dealers on strike
Aman planting in Nilphamari may face setback
Fertiliser dealers in Nilphamari district refrained from receiving delivery of urea from Parbotipur buffer stock for the second day yesterday, much to the worry of farmers.
Following a call by the Nilphamari unit of Bangladesh Fertiliser Association (BFA) to realise their three-point demand, all the 75 dealers of the district stopped withdrawing fertiliser from the buffer stock in adjacent Dinajpur district for an indefinite period from Tuesday afternoon.
Their demand includes stopping supply of China made 'low quality' fertiliser to the local dealers from Parbotipur buffer stock, setting up a buffer stock in Nilphamari, which is a major paddy producing area of the country, and allowing the fertiliser dealers to take delivery of locally produced good quality Jamuna variety of urea fertiliser under 'district quota' from factory gate.
"Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) has recently imported low quality urea from China and the buffer stock officials at Parbotipur are compelling us to receive it. As a result we have to incur monitory losses,” said district unit of BFA President Abdul Wahed Sarker.
"To realise our three-point demand, we handed over a memorandum to the BCIC chairman through the deputy commissioner of Nilphamari one month ago but to no effect," he said.
Nitrogenated urea, most important fertiliser for cultivating paddy, is supplied to Dinajpur and Nilphamari districts from the buffer stock at Parbotipur in Dinajpur district, fertiliser dealers said.
When the farmers are busy in planting 'amon' seedlings, the fertiliser dealers' programme may cause setback in cultivation, as specific doses of urea is to be sprayed in paddy fields three times at certain intervals till harvest, said several farmers.
Many farmers, anxious about availability of fertiliser in days ahead, yesterday crowded the shops of fertiliser dealers and retailers in different markets of the district to purchase urea.
The district unit president of BFA said they have a good stock of urea that can meet the farmers' demand for about a week.
"But if the authorities concerned fail to meet our demand within a short time, continued agitation programme may create problem in future," he said.
In July, the government has allocated 2600 tonnes of urea for the district but only a small portion of it was withdrawn before the agitation programme started.
"The fertiliser dealers of Nilphamari stopped withdrawing urea from Tuesday alleging that the urea imported from China is of low quality. I have informed the higher authority of BCIC of the matter," said Md Shahjahan, the in-charge of Parbotipur buffer stock.
Nilphamari Deputy Commissioner's Office sources said they are in close contact with the fertiliser dealers and trying to resolve the problem.
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