Boro saplings threatened for scanty supply
Our Correspondent, Moulvibazar
Boro farmers in Rajnagar upazila under Moulvibazar district are worried as supply of fertiliser is too scanty to meet their requirement. Boro saplings are now turning reddish for want of fertiliser, said farmers of Kawadighi Haor areas in Rajnagar upazila.
Planted saplings of Boro, the only crop of the haor area, will be damaged if fertiliser cannot be applied within four or five days, they said.
Meanwhile, Moulvibazar Deputy Commissioner’s Office yesterday received a letter from the ministry concerned that informed about allocation of 500 tonnes of fertiliser to meet the urgent need for the district.
During a visit to Azader Bazaar in Rajnagar upazila on Tuesday, this correspondent saw over two hundred farmers standing in queue in front of a dealer’s outlet. They were holding token for fertiliser given by Upazila Agriculture Office.
Farmers, who were lucky enough to get fertiliser from the dealer, said the amount was much less than requirement.
“I got only 25 kg of fertiliser after three days, but I need 300 kg,” said Abdul Kadir of Paschimbhag village.
Tauhid Ali, fertiliser dealer at the outlet in Azader Bazaar, said, “Only 10 tonnes of fertiliser have been supplied to my outlet whereas the demand is 50 tonnes. I sold fertilisers to 100 farmers till Tuesday noon and 150 more farmers will get fertiliser from my existing stock.”
“Only 175 tonnes have been supplied so far whereas the demand for fertiliser in this upazila in the current month is 420 tonnes,” said Rajnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Safayat Mahbub Chowdhury.
“Total demand for fertiliser in Moulvibazar district is 1,734 tonnes but only 400 tonnes have been supplied till Tuesday. Arrangement has been made through the ministry to get 500 tonnes more from Ghorashal,” Laxmi Kanta Pandit, deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension in Moulvibazar, said.
Of the amount, 200 tonnes will be provided for Sadar and Rajnagar upazilas each while Srimongal upazila will get 100 tonnes, he said.
He said they have target of Boro cultivation on one lakh 25 thousand 970 acres of land in Moulvibazar district.
Courtesy of www.thedailystar.net
