Less cost, more profit

A pheromone trap set at a bottle gourd garden of Gobindanagar village in Gouripur upazila under Mymensingh district. PHOTO: STAR

Around 2000 vegetable farmers in Gouripur upazila under the district are benefiting by using environment-friendly pheromone traps instead of chemical pesticides this season.

"I cultivated mainly kakrol (teasle gourd) on 40 decimals of land this year. As per the suggestion of local agriculture officials, I set 2/3 pheromone traps on every five decimal of land and no pest attack was seen so far," said Fazlul Haque, 45, a farmer of Gobindanagar village in Gouripur upazila.

Like him, some 300 farmers of the village are using pheromone traps.

"We learnt about the use of pheromone traps from a field day organised by agriculture office a few months ago. That time the office distributed the traps for free," said Ruhul Amin, 54, another farmer.

"Now we are happy that the cost of pesticide has reduced and the price of our produce is better than previous years," said Johor Uddin, 55, a vegetable farmer who spent only Tk 500 to make his 20-decimal cultivation free from pest.

AGM Gulam Mustafa, sub-assistant agriculture officer in Gouripur upazila, who is assigned for 13 villages including Gobindanagar, said the farmers are now interested to use environment friendly pheromone traps that costs much less than chemical pesticides.

A farmer has to spend Tk 60/70 to set a pheromone trap for a three-month season, he said.

"The local agriculture office has distributed 150 pheromone traps for free this year under Agriculture Rehabilitation Programme. Many farmers are interested to buy the traps and we have informed the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Mymensingh about the increasing demand," added the official. 

Under National Agriculture Technology Project from 2012 to 2015, hundreds of farmers of the upazila were trained on agriculture technologies and use of balanced doze of chemical and bio-fertilizers and natural pest control, said Md Sadiqur Rahman, Gouripur upazila agriculture officer.

Under the project, we formed 100 groups titled 'Common Interest Groups' involving the farmers to assist their cultivation in the upazila, he said.

Md Altabur Rahman, deputy director of DAE in Mymensingh, said, "Pheromone traps are available at the district headquarters. At its primary stage, its supply might be hampered at upazila level. I have already asked the upazila agriculture offices of the district to increase the supply of pheromone traps according to demand.”