Virus attack on bean leaves worries farmers
Bean leaves attacked by virus have dashed the hopes of thousands of farmers in Juri upazila of the district.
As the vegetable farming became profitable in the area, bean was cultivated on 61 hectares of land this year, which was 57 hectares last year, said Jasim Uddin, agriculture officer in Juri.
Islam Uddin, a farmer of Bashirpur village, said he collected 8 to12 kg of bean from his field every day last year.
But his bean leaves have turned yellowish due to attack of Mosaic virus this year and the trees are slowly dying now, said Islam.
The leaves attacked by the virus have worried many farmers in the upazila, he said.
Another affected farmer Sharif Mia of the village said the yield was good last year but this year, most of the bean plants have died due to the virus attack.
Although some trees have been covered with flowers, those are also dying due to attack of the virus, said Sharif.
Growers said they have incurred loss in the vegetable cultivation this year as production cost became high due to increased labour cost and prices of day labourers, fertilizer and pesticide on the rise while bean trees are dying during harvesting time.
Some farmers blamed the weather change for the severity of the virus attack while experts said farmers’ excessive use of pesticides might have caused insects to grow resistance to the chemicals.
Pankaj Kanti Biswas, deputy assistant agriculture officer of the upazila agriculture office, advised the farmers to use pesticides regularly to prevent the disease.
Kazi Lutful Bari, deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension in Moulvibazar, said the farmers can also use Potash fertilizer to prevent the disease.
Comments