Due to an inability of the farmers of the country to differentiate between standard and substandard fertilisers, they are being cheated by the unscrupulous practice of some private fertiliser producers who put out adulterated product in the market, experts said.

SRDI prepared the report after testing samples of fertilisers received from different law enforcing agencies and individuals over the period of last one year.

According to the report, 41 percent of triple super phosphate (TSP) samples, 85 percent of single super phosphate samples, 80 percent of NPKS samples - a mixed fertiliser containing nitrogen, potassium and sulphur, 60 percent of sulphate of potash (SOP) samples, 57 percent of zinc sulphate (ZnS) samples, 68 percent of boron samples, 65 percent of gypsum samples, 60 percent of fused magnesium phosphate (FMP) samples, and 5 percent of di ammonium phosphate (DAP) samples were found to be of substandard qualities.

The SRDI report however said the agency found no adulteration in the samples of urea, ammonium sulphate, and rock phosphate.

Principal Scientific Officer of SRDI Mainul Ahsan said 90 percent farmers of the country apply TSP in their fields for better yields, although the practice is limited in coastal areas.

Ten to twenty percent farmers use SSP, SOP and FMP, boron and gypsum are used by 30 to 40 percent famers, while ZnS is used by 50 percent of them, he said.

Substandard fertilisers contain lesser volumes of the ingredients than the government set standards, which are written on their labels. For example, Razzak brand mixed fertiliser tested by SRDI, contains 1.61 percent nitrogen, 0.79 percent phosphate, 2.80 percent potash, and 1.86 percent sulphur while the government regulations stipulate that NPKS should contain 8 percent nitrogen, 20 percent phosphate, 14 percent potash, and 5 percent sulphur.

China Dosta Sar brand of zinc tested by SRDI contains only 0.004 percent zinc, and 26 percent sulphur while the government set standard requires that it should contain 36 percent zinc, and 17 percent sulphur.

A sample of substandard TSP, produced by Ms Hamid Brothers, contains a total of 41 percent phosphate, 28.02 of which is soluble in water, while it should contain a total of 46 percent phosphate, 40 percent of which should be soluble in water.

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Liaison Scientist for Bangladesh Dr MA Hamid Miah told The Daily Star that farmers usually apply fertilisers according to the measures set by experts. But if the fertilisers do not contain the proper ratio of ingredients, farmers would not get the expected yields and incur economic losses instead. The national production would also go down, he added.

General Secretary of Bangladesh Fertiliser Association Reaz Uddin told The Daily Star that there is a significant number of floating vendors who usually blends one or two types of fertiliser components and sell those in open markets.

Genuine fertiliser businessmen are not involved in such types of adulteration as they are to careful about their reputations, Reaz observed. In most of the cases, it is very difficult to net the bootleggers as they constantly change their locations, he added.

SRDI recommended strict enforcement of the Fertiliser Management Act 2006, under which any offender is to be sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment or to be fined Tk 2 lakh or both.

It also suggested that field level officers of the Department of Agricultural Extension should maintain a list of local fertiliser manufacturers and regularly inspect those fertiliser factories to ensure production of only quality fertilisers.

SRDI's Mainul Ahsan told The Daily Star that adulteration of fertilisers has been a little curbed since the declaration of the state of emergency. He however observed if there is a fertiliser crisis in the market, be it real or artificial, dishonest businessmen might take the opportunity to adulterate fertilisers with a renewed zeal.

Farmers are tempted to buy fertilisers without much consideration when there is a fertiliser crisis, Mainul added.

Despite being a mixed fertiliser, NPKS has been very popular among the farmers for a few years now, but due to widespread adulteration of it, they have already started to become disillusioned about its effectiveness, Mainul quipped.