Late blight attack on tomato

Several thousand farmers of Panchagarh are worried due to massive attack of late blight on the tomato fields in the ongoing season.    

During a visit on Tuesday, this correspondent saw that a good number of tomato fields in Amarkhana, Hafizabad and Kamath Kajoldighi unions had been affected by late blight disease.

Farmer Arshad Ali of Pukuridanga village in Panchagarh Sadar upazila said he cultivated tomato on one acre of land spending Tk 1.5 lakh, but the tomato plants were struck by late blight in the last few days and died quickly. “Last year, I cultivated tomato on the same land and earned about Tk 3 lakh,” he added.

Sayeed of Haribhasa Dangapara village said he cultivated tomato on one bigha of land spending Tk 47 thousand, but the tomato field was struck by late blight disease. “I sprayed different medicines but they did not have any effect,” he added.

Many other farmers of these areas had the same experience.

Deputy Director (DD) of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Md Shamsul Haque said tomato was cultivated on 3,114 hectares of land in Panchagarh against the target of 2,275 hectares.

Late blight attacked tomato fields due to frequent, untimely rain during the last several days, he added.

Shamsul said they are advising the farmers to apply fungicides mancozeb and propineb on the affected tomato fields.

“We are advising farmers to spray fungicides after consulting agriculture officials.

The situation will improve if the areas get several days of sunshine,” the DD added.

Panchagarh is famous for its summer season tomatoes, which are rarely cultivated in other parts of the country, so the demand is high, locals said.