Good yield after blast prevention

Wheat farmers in six south-western districts have got a good yield this year, although the cultivation area is much less against the backdrop of last year's production setback due to wheat blast disease.

This year farmers in the districts cultivated the crop on 18,635 hectares of land while it was around 58,135 hectares last year, said sources of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE). 

District-wise, this year's cultivation area includes 5880 hectares in Magura, 4300 hectares in Kushtia, 3990 hectares in Meherpur, 3015 hectares in Jhenidah, 920 hectares in Chuadanga, and 530 hectares in Jessore, they said. 

As the districts saw the breakout of wheat blast disease last year, DAE officials advised the farmers not to cultivate the crop this year to check the menace, sources at the DAE divisional office in Jessore said, adding that they held awareness campaign on the matter at different places. 

Fortunately, wheat blast did not return in the region and the yield seems good, said Mustafizur Rahman, DAE deputy director in Meherpur.

“The officials advised us not to cultivate wheat, but I cultivated it on one bigha of land to meet my family need round the year. I have got 18 maunds of yield,” said Asaduzzaman, a small farmer of Baot village in Meherpur's Gangni upazila.

Using Bari-25 variety of wheat seeds, Rezatullah, Zubbar Ali, Almas Ali of Harirampur village in Meherpur Sadar upazila also got similar results.

The yield is slightly above average in the area.

The farmers said they sprayed insecticides to save the crop from wheat blast that attacked their fields last year.

As per reports from the field level this season, only 16 hectares of wheat fields got destroyed in Meherpur, Jessore and Jhenidah due to blast disease infection, DAE office sources said.

The disease last year affected 15,000 hectares of wheat fields in Jessore, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Jhenidah, Magura, Barisal, and Bhola districts, causing up to 40 percent of crop damage, according to DAE.