Fog damaging huge urea
Huge quantity of urea fertiliser supplied to meet the demand of the upcoming Irri-boro season has been kept under the open sky at Joypurhat due to lack of sufficient space in the district's lone warehouse. Photo: STAR
Around 2,500 tonnes of urea fertiliser allocated for the cultivation of Irri-boro in the upcoming season are kept under the open sky due to space shortage in the godown in Joypurhat district. If kept in the open space for long, the fertiliser may get damaged and deteriorate in quality due to exposure to dense fog and drizzle, said fertiliser dealers. Joypurhat Fertiliser Association said they need around 43,700 tonnes of urea for the upcoming Irri-boro season. Of the amount, around 5,000 tonnes have already arrived in the district as part of the ongoing process of fertiliser supply from BCIC. As the lone warehouse has storage capacity of 2,500 tonnes of fertiliser, the rest have been kept in the open space in the compound, officials said. Joypurhat Fertiliser Association sources said huge quantity of fertiliser has to be kept under open sky for shortage of space in the godown. "Fertiliser kept in the open space for long may clot due to dense fog and rain. Farmers do not want to buy such fertiliser as they face problem while spraying it in the crop field," sources said. “Every year we face difficulty with huge amount of fertiliser for want of adequate godowns. The higher authority was informed of the matter on several occasions, but no step has been taken to solve the problem as yet," said warehouse staff. Md Delwar Hossain, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Joypurhat, they have decided to hire a warehouse to stock the fertiliser. In Gaibandha, huge amount of urea fertiliser is kept under the open sky due to space shortage in the buffer stock godown. The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) sought allocation of 58,000 tonnes of urea for this year's boro and robi crop. Of it, 29,052 tonnes are meant for boro farming. Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) allocated 9,117 tonnes for January, 11,657 tonnes for February and 8,268 tonnes for March. The district buffer stock authorities have already received supply of 9,485 tonnes of fertiliser. The authorities pressed 4,500 tonnes of fertiliser into the 2,000tonnes capacity buffer stock godown while around 5,000 tonnes have been kept in the open space in the godown compound.
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