Govt ups prices of fertiliser

On the eve of Irri-Boro season, the government has raised prices of triple super phosphate (TSP) and potash around Tk 3 per kilogram, which many said would add to the farmers' sufferings.
Sources at the agriculture ministry said the prices of TSP and potash have been raised following a request from Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation.
Fertiliser pricing and monitoring committee of the agriculture ministry set the new prices on Thursday. Ministry sources said the committee was forced to raise the prices following price hike on the international market.
Meanwhile, three months into the fiscal year 2007-08, the government is yet to decide on subsidy on fertiliser which will cause immense sufferings to the farmers during the upcoming robi cultivation season.
The price of TSP has been raised to Tk 20.20 per kilogram from Tk 17.50 while the price of potash has been raised to Tk 18.11 from Tk 15.50. According to Bangladesh Fertiliser Association (BFA), the price of a sack of 50kg TSP has been set at Tk 1,009.09 and the price of potash of the same amount has been set at Tk 905.65 from Tk 774.55.
There is a demand for 4.76 lakh tonnes of TSP in the current fiscal year; of this only 50 thousand tonne will be produced in the country and the rest will be imported. The demand for potash is 4 lakh tonne and the entire demand will be met through import, the sources said.
In the last fiscal year the government subsidised Tk 594 crore for around 10 lakh tonnes of TSP, di-ammonium phosphate (Dap) and potash. But, although three months have passed of the current fiscal year, the government has not yet taken any decision on the matter which is discouraging private importers to import these essential fertilisers.
BFA officials said private importers imported 1.25 lakh tonnes of TSP and 80 thousand tonnes of potash during the last fiscal year but 80 thousand tonnes of TSP and 37 thousand tonnes of potash still remain unsold because of the delay in government declaration about subsidy.
BFA Chairman Kafil Uddin Ahmed said, "The private sector importers could not import fertiliser as the government is yet to take any decision about the subsidy. This may result in a fertiliser crisis during the upcoming Irri-Boro season."
He said the prices of fertiliser on the international market have increased greatly. In the previous year, the price of TSP was $215-220 per tonne but now it has increased to $440. The price of potash was $225-230 and it has increased to $330, he added.