This article is based on data collected through two household surveys carried out during 1977/78 and 1983/84 in two villages of Bangladesh. Fertilizer consumption has increased over the 1977-84 period by about 68 per cent. All categories of farms experienced rapid growth but performance of the small farms is better in terms of use per acre of cropped land. This increase in fertilizer use is primarily a result of (i) changes in the cropping pattern from low fertilizer consuming crops to high consuming crops, (ii) increase in the proportion of crop area fertilized and (iii) rise in the number of fertilizer users. Their combined effects have more than off-set the decline in the intensity of application on HYVs, Aus and jute. During this period 1977-84, the proportion of area under HYV paddy and mustard increased substantially. Fertilizer use has also become more balanced. There is little inter-farm variation in prices except the periods of scarcity when small farms paid higher prices.