With cooperation from BARI (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute), they bade goodbye to pesticides and used 'Pheromone trap' and bio-agent (beneficial insects) instead of harmful pesticides.

But the 'silent revolution' in pest control may die down soon as pheromone, the principal ingredient used in the process is missing. It is yet to be imported on commercial basis, farmers told this correspondent.

This correspondent visited Gaidghat village in Bagherpara upazila, Nongorpur in Jessore Sadar and Pearpur in Shalikha upazila recently and talked to farmers.

They are still growing vegetables like brinjal, snake-gourd (Chichinga) and balsam apple (Korola) without use of pesticide on about 324 bighas of land.

They said they want to continue the new pest management system as it is less costly, beneficial and hygienic.

But they are facing crisis of pheromone as in local markets.

Sazzad Ali Khan at Gaidghat village said vegetable production using pesticide is at least eight times costlier than using pheromone trap and beneficial insects. He however said part of the pheromone they need is now supplied by BARI for free and they have to buy a plastic bottle which costs Tk 15 only.

"The supply is limited and we have to buy from market when we need more", he said.

Laxman Mondol said former agriculture minister MK Anwar during a visit in May 2005 assured farmers that the government allowed a multinational company to import pheromone and that they would not face its crisis. But the assurance has not yet turned into a reality, plunging their laudable initiative into uncertainty, they lamented.

A top official of agriculture ministry after a visit to the area on July 5 told The Daily Star that the government had taken steps to bring 70 tonnes of pheromone to distribute among farmers.

Pheromone is a chemical capsule that is kept in a plastic bottle half-filled with water. It attracts insects into the bottle to drown, the farmers said.

Farmers who earlier used to apply heavy doses of pesticide in their vegetable fields, now need this wonder capsule they call 'tabiz' (talisman) along with some beneficial insects.

However, farmers also use some beneficial insects supplied by BARI.

Mohammad Raziul Hasan Mondol, Scientific Officer of RARS (Regional Agricultural Research Institute) under BARI in Jessore said, beneficial insects like Bracon, Habator, Trichogramma, Chilonis and Chrysopa eat up harmful insects.

Senior Scientific Officer (SSO) of BARI's Entomology Division Dr. Syed Nurul Alam said pheromone-based technology can eliminate use of pesticide in vegetable cultivation.

BARI took up Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programme in 2001 to discourage farmers from using harmful pesticide. The programme assisted by DFID, UK, achieved a great success. The National Resources Institute (NRI) in UK and Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC) in Taiwan cooperated in the research, officials said.