Home ›› 19 Apr 2023 ›› Nation
The recent increase in fertiliser prices has the farmers of Mymensingh worried about covering their production costs.
Alongside the prices of daily commodities, the prices of electricity and fuel also increased a while ago. And now the sudden increase in fertiliser prices has left the farmers in dire straits.
The wholesale prices of urea, TSP (triple superphosphate), DAP (Di-ammonium Phosphate) and MOP (Muriate of potash) fertilisers have been increased by Tk five per kg.
Dealers are currently selling urea and TSP at Tk 25 per as opposed to the previous price of Tk 20 per kg. The price of DAP has increased from Tk 14 to Tk 19 and the price of MOP has gone from Tk 13 to Tk 18 per kg.
As a result, the retail price of urea and TSP has increased from Tk 22 to Tk 27 per kg, DAP from Tk 16 to Tk 21 per kg, and MOP fertiliser price has increased from Tk 15 to Tk 20 per kg.
The price hike has come as a blow to the farmers who were already struggling to cover production costs and make a profit.
Farmers are worried they will not be able to sell their products at a higher price to cover the cost. They fear whether or not they will be able to continue making a living through agriculture if this continues.
The affected farmers urged the government to lower the prices of fertiliser.
Farmer Manjurul Haque of Mazampur village in Sadar upazila cultivates vegetables alongside paddy. This season he has cul-tivated brinjal on 30 decimals of land.
"I had to buy urea and DAP fertiliser at a higher price compared to earlier this month. The prices of seeds and pesticides are also high. Labour costs have increased. Due to the increase in electricity and oil prices, it takes more money to irrigate the fields. How will we do agriculture if the price of everything increases like this," said Manjurul.
Taijul Islam, a farmer of the same area, said he heard that the price of fertiliser is increasing by Tk 250 per bag.
"Fertilisers are already expensive as it is. The cost of cultivating an acre of land will increase by at least Tk 500 now. We are concerned about this," he said.
Imran Hossain, a farmer of Tarakanda upazila of the district, said, "There is no point in farming if the crops are not profita-ble after putting much hard work and effort into it. We demand that the government should increase the subsidy and re-duce the price for us."
Professor Gholam Hafiz of the Faculty of Agricultural Economics of Bangladesh Agricultural University said, "Increasing the price of fertilisers can have a negative impact on agricultural production. If farmers reduce the amount of fertiliser applied to the land to save costs, production will decrease."
He further added that farmers will lose interest in agriculture if their crops are not profitable. So the government needs to reduce the expenditure on other less important sectors and increase the subsidy in the agricultural sector.
