Bangladeshi agrochemical producers have called on the government to introduce urgent policy support aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in local production.
Their key demands include liberalising raw material sourcing, scrapping import duties on supplementary chemicals, and declaring the agrochemical sector a priority industry to qualify for low-interest loans and export incentives.
The demands were raised on Saturday at a workshop titled 鈥楤arriers and Challenges Faced by Domestic Agrochemical Producers in Reducing Agricultural Production Costs鈥� held at the BRAC Inn Centre in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Agro-Chemical Manufacturers Association President KSM Mostafizur Rahman criticised the single country, single source policy enforced by the Pesticide Technical Advisory Committee for importing pesticide raw materials.
He alleged that this policy, influenced by multinational companies, blocked domestic firms from sourcing more affordable inputs available from other countries, while multinationals profit by importing materials from their own overseas facilities at inflated prices.
Mostafiz said that the regulatory framework had been modified to include a country of origin clause, which has no legal justification.
He also called for the withdrawal of import duties on chemicals and policy recognition of the sector as a priority industry, arguing that these measures could enable local firms to meet domestic demand and begin exporting to Asia, Africa, and Central America within three years.
In his keynote presentation, Gazipur Agricultural University Professor Abdul Karim of outlined several hurdles facing domestic agrochemical producers, including the restrictive single-source policy, lack of a national policy for raw material production, unlawful monopolies on patented products and delays in clearing raw materials at ports.
He recommended eliminating the single-source requirement, implementing patent and compulsory licensing laws, reforming the Pesticide Technical Advisory Committee and cancelling the need for No Objection Certificates for raw material imports.
Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries secretary general Zakir Hossain expressed strong support for the call to achieve self-sufficiency in agrochemicals, pledging the cooperation of the pharmaceutical sector.
According to industry representatives, the country鈥檚 agrochemical market is currently valued at around Tk 7,500 crore.
However, seven multinational companies control more than 90 percent of the market, while 17 domestic companies account for only about 6 per cent.
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