Home ›› 15 Feb 2022 ›› Front
The government will need Tk 28,000 crore as subsidy for fertilisers in the current financial year due to the abnormal price hike of fertilisers along with increased expenditure for importing the most essential agricultural input.
The amount of subsidy had crossed nearly three folds of the government’s estimated budget of Tk 9,500 crore earmarked in FY22, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque came up with the information at a press conference on fertiliser stock, price and subsidy at the Secretariat on Monday.
The prices of fertilisers had increased sharply across the world while higher fuel prices caused an increase in freight charges only to make the present situation worse, the minister said.
“Despite the prices of fertilisers having gone up three times in FY22 compared to the last fiscal year, the agriculture-friendly government has not increased prices in the domestic market. The government has maintained the trend of agricultural production by supplying fertilisers at affordable prices through continuous subsidies,” he said.
In the 2020-21 financial year, the subsidy for fertiliser was TK 7,717 crore.
In the current financial year, around Tk 19,000 crore more is required for providing subsidies and the government is working sincerely on how to manage such a huge subsidy, Razzaque said.
He also said if such an amount of subsidy continues, it will hamper the other development activities. The government is in a dilemma whether the prices of fertilisers will be hiked or not, he said.
“If the prices of fertilisers go up, the farmers will suffer as production costs will rise, food production will be disrupted and food prices may rise further as well,” he said.
As prices of fertilisers hikes, the government subsidy now stands at TK 82 per kg for urea, TK 50 for TSP (Triple Super Phosphate), TK 41 for MoP (Muriate of Potash), TK 79 for DAP (Diammonium phosphate), the minister said.
However, the prices of fertilisers at the growers’ level are fixed at Tk 16 per kg for urea, Tk 22 for TSP, Tk 15 for MoP, and Tk 16 for DAP, he said.
Razzaque said the government provided TK 88,828 crore as subsidy for fertilisers, irrigation and other agricultural inputs since it came to power in 2009.
In FY22, the minister said there is a demand of about 57.50 lakh tonnes of chemical fertilisers — urea 28 lakh tonnes, TSP 7 lakh tonnes, MoP 7 lakh tonnes, and DAP 16 lakh tonnes.
There are adequate stocks of all types of fertilisers in the country against the demand, he added.
