After a long delay, the government is finally going to introduce bio-fertiliser as a substitute for urea fertiliser to be used for pulse crops.
It will sharply reduce the use of urea fertiliser in the country, officials concerned said.
Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (Bina) has invented the bio-fertiliser containing living microorganism that promotes the growth of the plants by increasing the supply of primary nutrients through the natural process of nitrogen fixation.
Bina has already launched its selection procedure to choose a producer of the environment-friendly bio-fertiliser for pulse crops, said AHM Razzaque, director general of Bina.
“We have recently advertised a circular to get expression of interest (EoI) from the possible producers from which an eligible producer will be selected,” he said, adding that the farmers can get the bio-fertiliser by next winter.
According to agriculture ministry, the country produced 7.67 lakh tonnes of pulses in the fiscal year 2012-13 from around 7.08 lakh hectares of arable land.
Bina invented the bio-fertiliser around 15 years ago and took a move to produce it on trial basis and distribute to the farmers on a small scale during the period between 2001 and 2005.
Later in 2012, it also took a move to reach the benefit of the invention to the farmers by selecting a producer, but it was halted for last two years.
Even Bina had selected one of the bidders named Safe Agriculture (BD) Ltd to give it the production authority in that year, although the process had not finally seen the light.
Bina has recently circulated another EoI to find out possible producer of the bio-fertiliser after getting the directives from agriculture ministry on March 9.
About a delay in production for two years, the Bina DG said that the selection process was halted somehow, although he sent the selection results to then DG MA Sattar on May 12 in 2012 while he (incumbent DG) was the director of administration wing.
MA Sattar told the Dhaka Tribune that the move did not proceed as the selected producer, Safe Agro, later refused to sign the production agreement with Bina by showing personal grounds.
Monowar Karim Khan, chief scientific officer of Bina, informed that bio-fertiliser will reduce the use of urea fertiliser remarkably as the plants will get adequate nitrogen from it.
Around 20-30kgs of urea fertiliser are required to cultivate pulse on one hectare of land while bio-fertilizer will meet the demand for nitrogen with only 2kgs for the same acreage of land, he said, adding that bio-fertiliser is cheaper than that of the chemical one.
According to Bangladesh Fertiliser Association, around 24 lakh tonnes of urea fertiliser are currently used to grow different types of crops and meet the demand for nitrogen.
