Nazmul Hossain, a farmer from Kichak Union in Shibganj, Bogura, is cultivating Aman rice on 10 bighas of land this year. His seedlings are now one month old, and he needs to apply fertiliser to the fields at this stage.

To buy three sacks each of urea, TSP and MOP fertiliser, he went to the local Kichak market on Tuesday morning. However, he could not obtain even a single sack from the government-appointed distributor (dealer).

Nazmul Hossain then visited retail fertiliser shops in the market. At Mehedi Traders and Mohona Traders, retailers were asking Tk 1,850 for a 50kg sack of TSP, Tk 1,170 for MOP, Tk1,430 for urea and Tk1,600 for DAP. Each price was Tk 500 higher per sack than the government-fixed rate.