Pest attack worries Aman farmers in 2 Nilphamari UZs

Massive attack of brown plant hopper worries paddy farmers in Jaldhaka and Sadar upazilas of Nilphamari as Aman harvesting season is a couple of weeks away.

The pest, locally known as ‘current poka’, spreads fast while pesticides found in local markets hardly work, said farmers.

Visiting different affected villages like Balarpukur, Ghughumari, Chairmanpara and Dakkhin Berubandh of Jaldhaka upazila, and Charcharabari, Mahabbat Bajitpara, Bajitpara and Uttar para of Sadar upazila, this correspondent found attack of brown plant hopper at many fields.

“The pests suck up fluid of the paddy plants and corns at milk stage, causing them to dry up and ultimately fall on ground. The pests ruin crop on a bigha (30 decimal) of land in only in three to four days,” said farmer Abdur Rahim, 55, of Chairmanpara village.

As the pests destroy paddy fields too fast, farmers call it ‘current poka’ to mean that it spreads as fast as electricity, he added.

Abdur Rahman, 58, of Dakkhin Berubandh village expressed similar views.

Arif Rabbani, sub assistant agriculture officer of Nilphamari Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), said, “This year we set a target to cultivate Aman paddy on 1,12,375 hectares of land in six upazilas of the district. But farmers have exceeded the target and the expected production is 3.36 lakh tonnes of rice.”

Abdus Salam, 22, of Dakkhin Berubandh village in Jaldhaka upazila said he cultivated Aman on 20 bighas of land and the growth was healthy.

“But only a couple of weeks before the harvesting time, ‘current poka’ attacked BR-11 and Swarna varieties of Aman on eight bighas of land in late last month. A large portion of the plants has been ruined as insecticides prescribed by local shopkeepers work very little while agriculture department staffer are not available for consultation,” he added.

Another farmer Mazedul Islam, 30, of Chairmanpara village in the same upazila lamented that the pest damaged paddy on his four bighas out of total 12 bighas of land, making the green plants and immature corns as dry as straw.

“I am cutting paddy on my three-bigha land two weeks before the actual harvesting time as brown plant hopper attacked the field,” said Habibur Rahman, 45, of Mahabbat Bajitpara village.

On contact, Jaldhaka Upazila Agriculture Officer Shah Md Mahfuzul Huque admitted attack of brown plant hopper in some fields.

He, however, claimed that the affected area is not much and the situation is mostly under control as his field staffers suggest farmers to spray insecticide of Imichlorapid group.

Excessive use of urea fertilizer, damp and cloudy weather make way for such pest attack, he said.