At the request of pesticide manufacturers, the government of Bangladesh recently lifted the restriction on replacing purchasing companies and allowed domestic enterprises to import raw materials from any source.

    The Bangladesh Agrochemical Manufacturers Association (Bama), an industry group of pesticide manufacturers, thanked the government for the move in a program on Monday.

    KSM Mustafizur Rahman, convener of the association and general manager of national Agricare group, said: "before that, the process of changing purchasing companies was very complex and took 2-3 years. Now, it is much easier to change suppliers."

    "After this policy takes effect, we can significantly increase the output of pesticides and improve the quality of products," he added, adding that enterprises can also export products. He explained that it was important to choose raw material suppliers freely, because the quality of finished products depended on raw materials.

    The Ministry of agriculture cancelled the terms of changing suppliers in a notice on December 29 last year. These Provisions have been in force since 2018.

    Local enterprises were affected by this restriction, but multinational enterprises with production facilities in Bangladesh enjoy the privilege of choosing their own suppliers.

    According to the data provided by Bama, at present, 22 enterprises produce pesticides in Bangladesh, and their market share is nearly 90%, while about 600 importers supply only 10% of the pesticides to the market.