Farmers face shortages of fertilizer

As the country enters the peak Aman planting season, farmers in several districts are struggling to obtain subsidised fertiliser at official prices despite government data showing that national stocks remain adequate.

The mismatch between sufficient stocks and shortages at the field level has exposed serious weaknesses in fertiliser distribution and monitoring, with authorities identifying negligence and alleged collusion among some dealers and field-level officials.

The Ministry of Agriculture says dealers are being allocated fertiliser according to demand but, in some cases, are failing to lift their allotted stocks, creating an artificial crisis. Farmers, meanwhile, allege that subsidised fertiliser is being diverted to the black market and sold at inflated prices.

Weakness in distribution system, negligence of authorities

The adviser said Bangladesh currently has more than 1.365 million tonnes of fertiliser in warehouses, compared with around 1.3 million tonnes during the same period of the 2025-26 fiscal year. Acknowledging reports of irregularities in distribution, he said the government had taken notice and was moving quickly to address them.

"There are some irregularities in distribution," the adviser said, adding that the government was planning changes to the distribution system. "The transition to a new process and coordination problems are creating some instability. In some cases, dealers are not lifting their allocated fertiliser. This is causing problems in certain areas, but we do not expect the situation to continue for long."

Agriculture Ministry officials said monthly district-wise allocation orders are issued by the ministry, while district committees headed by deputy commissioners allocate fertiliser among individual dealers.

 Upazila agriculture officers are responsible for monitoring whether dealers lift their stocks on time and ensuring proper distribution to farmers.

The ministry says around 10,000 dealers are involved in fertiliser distribution nationwide. Internal investigations have also identified negligence and alleged collusion among some field-level officials and dealers.

Additional Secretary for Fertiliser Management and Inputs Ahmed Faisal Imam said the ministry could ensure adequate imports and timely allocations, but failures at the local level were creating artificial shortages.

"Field-level agriculture officers are our hands and feet," he said. "In some cases, their negligence and collusion with dealers are creating the crisis."

He said disciplinary measures were underway, including the transfer of three district-level deputy directors last Saturday, while a decision had been made to suspend an upazila agriculture officer. Show-cause notices, explanations, withdrawals and suspensions were being used where negligence or misconduct was established.

Department of Agricultural Extension data for August show that fertiliser lifting and distribution remain significantly below allocations in several regions. In Gazipur, only 800 tonnes of the 1,876 tonnes of allocated urea had been distributed to farmers by August 20. Narsingdi distributed 919 tonnes against an allocation of 2,553 tonnes.

Across eight districts of Dhaka division, 8,965 tonnes of urea were lifted against an allocation of 19,918 tonnes. In Mymensingh division, dealers lifted only 9,992 tonnes against 31,425 tonnes allocated, while Sylhet division recorded 2,679 tonnes lifted against 9,541 tonnes.