Govt to procure 1.55 lakh tonnes of fertiliser

The government will procure 1.55 lakh tonnes of non-urea fertiliser from Canada, Russia and Saudi Arabia to ensure adequate supplies for the Boro rice season, the country’s principal crop.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) yesterday approved four separate proposals under government-to-government (G2G) arrangements and state-level agreements.

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The approval comes amid concerns over fertiliser supplies after farmers in several parts of the country recently protested over shortages during the ongoing rainfed Aman season, the second-largest rice crop.

Of the total, 80,000 tonnes of muriate of potash (MOP) fertiliser will be imported from the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) under an agreement between CCC and the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC). The price per tonne will be $383.80.

Under a state-level agreement between Russia’s JSC Foreign Economic Corporation (Prodintorg) and BADC, the government will import 35,000 tonnes of MOP fertiliser at $383.80 per tonne.

A separate state-level agreement has been approved for the import of 40,000 tonnes of diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser from Saudi Arabia’s MA’ADEN at $885 per tonne, at a total cost of Tk 437 crore.

Separately, in earlier procurement decisions, the government had approved the Agriculture Ministry’s plan to buy 35,000 tonnes of MOP from Russia under a state-to-state contract at $383.80 per tonne.

It had also approved the import of 40,000 tonnes of DAP from Morocco under a state-to-state arrangement. The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation will import the MOP and DAP.

In another earlier decision, the high-powered committee had approved the purchase of 40,000 tonnes of granular urea from Saudi Arabia at $396.66 per tonne.