Farmers block Rangpur-Dhaka highway for fertiliser

Hundreds of farmers staged a protest rally in Rangpur's Pirganj upazila and blocked Rangpur-Dhaka highway on Saturday in demand of ensuring sufficient amount of urea fertiliser.

The agitated farmers took position on the highway in front of Pirganj upazila parishad for an hour in the morning, halting traffic movement.

The standing paddy crop is stunted because of a paucity of chemical fertiliser, they said, adding that if there is a shortage of urea fertiliser in the full season, they will suffer a lot in Ropa Aman cultivation.

From the protest rally, farmers urged the government to solve the problem as soon as possible.

Later, the farmers called their demonstration off as Pirganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) assured them of meeting their demand and requested them to withdraw the blockade.

Mahbub Rahman, inspector (investigation) of Pirganj police station, said, "Several hundred farmers blocked the highway in the morning.  Local people also expressed solidarity with farmers' demands."

Some of agitated farmers including Nurul Islam, Shafiul Karim and Anwarul Islam, said, "For the past 10-12 days, we have not been able to get even one kg of urea fertiliser despite repeated visits to retail shops and dealers. Willing to pay Tk1500 per kg, we cannot even avail a sack of urea from them."

Aman cultivation has already been delayed by 20-22 days due to less rainfall in August. Now farmers cannot avail fertiliser. If fertilisers cannot be used in the crop lands within two days, the paddy will not be nourished, they added.

The farmers, however, threatened to go for a tougher movement later if they do not get fertiliser.

Mezbaur Rahman Manju, a fertiliser dealer of Mithapukur upazila, said, "We are selling urea to farmers. However, some of them are deprived of fertiliser as the number of farmers gathered in front of the fertiliser godown was several times higher than the amount of stocked fertiliser."

Biroda Rani Roy, UNO of Pirganj, said farmers are protesting on the highway in demand of fertiliser. Their demand is logical. The government is working to meet the farmers' demand."

Later, Asib Ahsan, deputy commissioner of Rangpur, visited the spot and directed the dealers to sell fertiliser among farmers. In his presence, dealers have started selling urea fertiliser to farmers.