Blight affects potato farming

Late blight, a fungal disease caused by prolonged thick fog, has badly affected potato cultivation at different villages in five upazilas of the district, raising fears among the growers.

The disease has now become a cause of concern for the potato growers that they might not get expected production this season.

"I cultivated potato on 60 decimals of land, but potato plants on eight to ten decimals of land got damaged by the disease two days ago,” said Momtaz Ali, 48, a farmer in Taluk Khutamara village in Aditmari upazila.

“I sprayed pesticide on the field to save the remaining corps from the disease,” he added.

Amzad Hossain of Kalmati village in Sadar upazila said he is worried as the blight attack will definitely hamper production this year as potato plants on his three bighas of land have already been affected by the fungal disease.

“I took preventive measure to save my potato plants from different diseases, but unfortunately a portion of the plants have been affected by the disease due to prolonged thick fog this season,” said Jamal Uddin of Mogholhat village in the upazila.

According to Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Lalmonirhat, 5,530 hectares of land have been brought under potato cultivation against the target of 5,250 hectares in five upazilas of the district this year.

“Cold weather is good for potato farming while dense fog is equally harmful for the crop,” said Bidubhuson Roy, DAE deputy director in Lalmonirhat.

The blight attack occurred due to lack of awareness of the farmers as the DAE officials earlier had advised many of them to spray fungicides, he added.

Roy said those who followed their advice could save their crop while the others could not.