August is the time for preparing land and planting seedlings for Aman, the country’s main rice-growing season. After planting the seedlings, farmers need to apply fertiliser to their fields in several stages. Naturally, demand for fertiliser is high at this time, but farmers at the field level complain that they are not getting enough.

In some places, farmers are being forced to buy fertiliser at higher prices. However, according to government records, there is no shortage in fertiliser stocks or allocations against demand.

The Ministry of Agriculture says that although allocations are made according to dealers’ demand, they are creating an artificial crisis by not lifting the fertiliser. It is the responsibility of upazila agricultural extension officers to monitor whether dealers are properly lifting and distributing fertiliser.

Farmers allege that a crisis is emerging because government-appointed distributors are selling subsidised fertiliser on the black market outside the designated channels.

The fertiliser is later sold at higher prices in the open market. Over the past three days, four distributors in four upazilas of Rajshahi have been fined a total of Tk 85,000 for allegedly smuggling fertiliser allocated for one area to another area. On 2 August, two distributors in Jashore were fined a total of Tk 10,500 by a mobile court for allegedly selling fertiliser at higher prices.