Agriculture Minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque on Tuesday said that there is no paucity of fertilizer as the country has enough stock of the agro-input against the demand.
"There is no shortage of fertilizer until December this year; rather has enough stock in the warehouses," he told journalists after coming out of a meeting with Vietnam Ambassador Pham Viet Chien at his ministry office in the capital, reports BSS.
Though the allocation of fertilizer has been given more this year than the previous year, the minister said, shortage of fertilizer has been noticed somewhere, which is unexpected.
Razzaque said 383 mobile courts have been conducted this month when 383 dealers and retail fertilizer traders were fined Taka 57.68 lakh to tackle the artificial shortage.
Along with financial penalty, licenses of the dealers involved in fertilizer manipulation will be revoked, he warns.
Apart from dealers and retail traders, the minister said if the field administration or field level officials are found guilty of negligence, stern actions also will be taken against them.
Speaking about MOP fertilizer, the minister said, "A total of 1.80 lakh tons of MOP fertilizer was imported by the government and private management till today in this month (August) while more 1.16 lakh tones of MPO fertilizer will arrive in the country in the next month (September)".
There is a demand of 51,000 tons in September and 70,000 tons of MOP fertilizer in October, which proved that the stock is more than the demand, he added.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
