↵​Present Scenario, Difficulties and Qualitative Development Policy Analysis of Urea Fertilizer Industrial Sector in Bangladesh: A Review

Developing countries consist of nearly 80% of the total world population where urea fertilizer is extensively used. Fertilizer is applied mainly in the regions where environmental conditions are suitable for plant growth and irrigation is available. It plays a crucial role in the economy and food production of a developing country like Bangladesh, where around half of the total agricultural production is solely dependent on urea fertilizer. Bangladesh government has seven urea fertilizer industries with a capacity of 3.37 million metric tons per year. Their production is currently not up to the mark due to facing some difficulties that are very common for any developing country. This article studied the current scenario of Bangladesh fertilizer sector, production parameters and major challenges with recommendations accordingly. The study revealed that the natural gas crisis is one of the significant problems. Frequent cutting off supply restricted the average yearly stream days of individual industry to 152 days only. Around 3.56% of urea consumption increased per unit of arable lands in 10 years due to the reduction of soil fertility. At present, Bangladesh needs to be self-reliant in the fertilizer sector to retain food autarky and economic growth. Some valuable recommendations to attain this goal have been discussed further that can help Bangladesh as well as most of the developing countries.