Seed, fertiliser and feed dealership

A farm input shop selling seed, fertiliser, pesticide and feed. The fertiliser margin is fixed by government at Tk 2 a kg today, rising to Tk 3 from 1 July 2027.

Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
Version 1

Starting capital: ৳1,50,000 – ৳25,00,000
Manpower: 1 – 5 people
First sale: 30 – 180 days
Break-even: 11 – 35 months
Kind of work: Shop · Medium difficulty

About the business

The shop in the local market where farmers buy seed, fertiliser, pesticide and fish or poultry feed. You do not set the price here; the companies and the government do, and you take a fixed margin in between. Under the Finance Division notification, a dealer today buys urea at Tk 25, TSP at Tk 25, DAP at Tk 19 and MOP at Tk 18 a kg and sells to the farmer at Tk 27, Tk 27, Tk 21 and Tk 20 respectively. That is two taka a kilo, one hundred taka a sack. From 1 July 2027 the dealer price drops by one taka on each while the farmer price stays put, lifting the commission to three taka a kilo. The fertiliser dealership itself is no longer easy to get. Under the policy in force since 16 November 2025 the security deposit rose from two lakh to four lakh taka, a dealer must run three sales centres, cannot sell outside the assigned area, cannot hold more than one dealership in a family, and the whole sub-dealer and retailer tier has been abolished. Sales and stock records must be kept digitally, and renewal or cancellation follows a performance review. A seed and feed shop is far cheaper to open, with no deposit, though each licence is taken separately. The real risk is not capital but credit: the farmer pays after harvest and the poultry farmer after the birds sell, and in between the shop's money is sitting out in the fields.

Unit economics

Item	Range	Evidence
Monthly working capital	৳2,40,000 – ৳12,00,000	Editorial estimate
Selling price	৳20 – ৳27 / kg	Official source
Variable cost	৳18 – ৳25 / kg	Official source
Gross margin	7% – 15%	Official source
Time to first revenue	30 – 180 days	Editorial estimate
Break-even time	11 – 35 months	Editorial estimate
Cash cycle	10 – 90 days	Editorial estimate
Waste / loss	1% – 4%	Editorial estimate
Daily capacity	300 – 3,000	Editorial estimate

What you need to start

Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000. Issued in 3-5 working days.Licence
Fertiliser dealer appointment under the Integrated Policy on Fertiliser Dealer Appointment and Distribution 2025, in force from 16 November 2025. The deposit rose from Tk 200,000 to Tk 400,000 and renewal costs Tk 1,000. More than one dealership per family is prohibited; government employees, elected representatives and convicted persons cannot be dealers. The sub-dealer and retailer tier is abolished.Licence
Seed dealer registration, applied for on the prescribed form of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agricultural Extension, and renewable. The registration fee and any deposit could not be verified here.Licence
Pesticide retail sale licence (Form 15) from the Department of Agricultural Extension, required to hold and sell pesticide. The fee could not be verified here.Licence
Fish feed and animal feed sale licence under the Fish Feed and Animal Feed Act 2010, from the Department of Fisheries or the Department of Livestock Services. There are separate classes for production, import, marketing and sale; fees could not be verified here.Licence
Digital record keeping is compulsory under the new policy. Beyond that: knowing seed varieties, checking expiry dates, and being able to tell a farmer how much of which fertiliser his land needs.Skill
Fertiliser allocation comes through BCIC and BADC; seed and feed come through the companies' area representatives. The companies set the commission, the credit period and the return terms.Supplier
Under the policy a fertiliser dealer must run three sales centres and hold two godowns, of 50 tonnes and 10 tonnes. Seed and feed need a dry store, free of rats and damp.Workspace

How the work is done

1Decide what you will sell. Seed, fertiliser, pesticide and feed are licensed by four different authorities, and fertiliser is the hardest of the four.
2Ask the upazila agriculture office whether there is a vacant fertiliser dealer post in your union. Vacancies are filled by the district committee, so check before you plan.
3Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality, naming farm inputs as the trade.
4Apply to the Department of Agricultural Extension for seed dealer registration, and take the pesticide retail sale licence (Form 15).
5To sell fish or animal feed, take a seller's licence under the Fish Feed and Animal Feed Act 2010 from the Department of Fisheries or the Department of Livestock Services.
6Arrange the godowns. A fertiliser dealer needs one of 50 tonnes and one of 10 tonnes; seed and feed need a dry, rat-proof store.
7Sit with the area representative of the seed and feed companies. Get the commission slab, the credit period and the return policy in writing.
8Keep sales and stock records digitally. The new policy makes this compulsory, and the subsidised and retail prices must be displayed in the shop.
9Keep a separate credit book and reconcile it monthly. Money has to be collected at harvest or it rolls into the next season.
10Stock up before the season starts. A week's delay at sowing time sends the farmer to another shop, and that season does not come back.

Seasons

JanNormal
FebNormal
MarNormal
AprNormal
MayNormal
JunNormal
JulNormal
AugNormal
SepNormal
OctNormal
NovNormal
DecNormal

HighNormalLow

Where it works well

Strong fitBogura · The trading centre of northern agriculture, with year-round demand for potato and vegetable seed and for fertiliser.
Strong fitDinajpur · A rice granary and a seed production area, with a strong BADC presence.
Strong fitJashore · A big market for flower and vegetable seed, and the country's largest trade in fish fry around Chanchra, which pulls fish feed with it.
Strong fitMymensingh · The country's largest fish farming belt; the sheer number of ponds and enclosures creates steady demand for fish feed.
Strong fitRangpur · A major rice and maize belt, with large seasonal demand for seed and fertiliser.
PossibleCumilla · A vegetable and rice area beside the highway, so company supply reaches easily.
PossibleKushtia · Heavy rice, wheat and vegetable cultivation, plus cattle fattening, which brings animal feed demand.
PossibleNilphamari · A maize and potato area, and maize brings animal and fish feed demand with it.

Risks and cautions

HighCompliance: The rules for a fertiliser dealership changed on 16 November 2025. The deposit doubled to four lakh taka, three sales centres are mandatory, selling outside the assigned area is banned, one family may hold only one dealership, and the entire sub-dealer and retailer tier was abolished. Anyone who has been selling fertiliser as a sub-dealer no longer has any legal basis for it. Renewal or cancellation follows a performance review, and false information cancels the registration.
HighWorking capital: The margin is fixed by government at two taka a kilo and you cannot raise it. Meanwhile four lakh taka sits locked as deposit and filling a 50 tonne godown with urea at the dealer rate of Tk 24 costs twelve lakh. Large money, small commission: the arithmetic only works on volume.
HighLate payment: Farmers take seed and fertiliser at sowing and pay after harvest. Poultry farmers take feed when the chicks arrive and pay when the birds sell. For those months the shop's whole capital is out in the fields, and when a crop or a flock fails the money does not come back. The average length of that credit could not be verified in this research.
HighDependency: The business rests entirely on allocation and appointment. Fertiliser allocation comes through BCIC and BADC, and a district committee fills vacant dealer posts. If the licence goes or the allocation shrinks, the shop stays open with nothing to sell.
MediumDemand: Large poultry companies now run contract farming, delivering chicks and feed straight to the farm and cutting out the dealer's commission entirely. A director of Kazi Farms wrote in 2023 that dealers used to earn a commission on every sack of feed and a profit on every chick, and that the contract model removes it. Where contract farming spreads, feed sales through the shop fall.

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