In Dinajpur, several thousand farmers of Parbatipur and Chirirbandar upazilas put barricades at two points on Dinajpur-Bogra highway for hours yesterday leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides, reports our correspondent there.

At around 9:00am, the agitating farmers blockaded the highway at Ambari point that lasted for nearly two hours.

Informed, officer-in-charge (OC) of Parbatipur Police Station and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) officials of 15 Battalion rushed to the spot. Later, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Dinajpur AM Saiful Hasan visited the spot and gave assurance to distribute at least 600 sacks of fertiliser among the agitating farmers.

BDR officials had been overseeing the distribution until late in the evening.

Meanwhile, the angry farmers of Chirirbandar upazila barricaded Dinajpur-Rangpur Highway at around 11:00am when the local fertiliser dealer at Ranibandar Mor refused to sell fertiliser that day.

The two hours long blockade caused a five km-long traffic on both sides of the highway.

Later, the DC and OC of the Chirirbandar Police Station held talks with the farmers and brought the situation under control at around 1:30pm.They also supervised the fertiliser sale among the farmers.

Talking to The Daily Star, the agitating farmers alleged that an unscrupulous cartel of dealers have long been depriving them of fertiliser by claiming high prices for it and selling it on the black market.

They also urged the government to start selling fertiliser on the open market immediately to ensure its smooth supply. Otherwise, the target of IRRI-Boro cultivation of the district will not be achieved this year, they feared.

Acute fertiliser scarcity has been prevailing in all 13 upazilas of Dinajpur since the very onset of IRRI-Boro season, the farmers added.

Local agriculture officials expressed hope that the problem will be solved soon as necessary steps have been taken and several letters were sent to the agriculture adviser for ensuring adequate supply of fertiliser.

At least 138 fertiliser dealers have been appointed in the district, Dinajpur DC official sources said. Only 4,000 metric tons fertiliser has been supplied so far against the required amount of 14,000 metric tons for March, they added.

Our correspondent from Pabna reports: Several hundred farmers besieged upazila agriculture offices of Chatmohar and Bhangura of the district on Friday demanding fertiliser.

The farmers went to the offices to get slips issued for fertiliser from the agriculture officers, but they were given none. The upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs) pledged to provide them with the slips and required amount of fertiliser by yesterday, but a large number of the farmers returned empty-handed from the dealers yesterday, as there was not sufficient stock.

The supply of fertiliser falls far short of the demand, sources said.

"While we need at least 10 sacks of Urea, we just got one sack," said a frustrated farmer of Chatmohar.

Chatmoher Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Azahar Ali said that 793 metric tons fertiliser is needed in March, while the dealers have withdrawn 140 metric tons so far. The Urea crisis further intensified as the stock for previous month ran out by February 20, he added.

In Bhangura, only two dealers out of 10 collected their allotted fertiliser in this year causing shortages in distribution, sources said.

Our Correspondent from Barisal says: Farmers in Mehendiganj, Hizla, Muladi, Agoiljhara and Gournadi upazilas have laid siege to government offices concerned and blocked roads and highways demanding fertiliser.

Against the total demand of 10,728 metric tons of fertiliser for the months of January and February, only 2,908 metric tons have been supplied, sources said. With the supply for the month of March yet to be reached, the district godown had only 278 metric tons in stock yesterday.

GMS Alam, deputy director of the district agricultural extension directorate and member secretary of the monitoring cell for the fertiliser and seeds distribution, blamed scarce supply from the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) for the crisis.

Barisal DC Manzur-e-Elahi said that they are yet to get a reply to the letter sent to higher authorities by fax on February 20 asking for adequate supply on emergency basis.

The farmers alleged that Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation's (BADC) direct sale to the authorised dealers without establishing a retail sales network, causes hassles to the farmers, increases chances of smuggling and often creates artificial crisis in the market.

The BCIC has no control over the fertiliser business at present and even their godowns are leased out to the private fertiliser businessmen, they added.