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CropsIn Dinajpur Sadar, branches and bamboo stakes in Aman fields give magpie robins, drongos and mynas a perch to hunt insects; about 65 percent of farmers use the cost-free method, extension officers say.
CookingBorn of a wartime tomato shortage in the Philippines, banana ketchup is made from ripe bananas, vinegar, onion, garlic and spices; Ajker Patrika gives a home recipe.
LivestockOf 240 Black Bengal goats given to 120 families under a livestock department project in Dewanganj, 172 died within a month; recipients say the animals were weak and underweight, and samples have been sent to Dhaka.
EnvironmentOn 10 acres of recovered forest land at Betbunia in Kaukhali, Rangamati, the forest department has planted 10,000 saplings of disappearing hill species such as chapalish, boilam and civit kadam, plus native fruit trees.
HealthSelling infant formula without a doctor's prescription is an offence in Bangladesh, yet pharmacies, shops and online sellers hand it over on request; exclusive breastfeeding has fallen from 65 percent in 2018 to 57 percent.
OpinionIn a Dhaka Post column, Jahangirnagar University microbiology professor Dr Anwar Khasru Parvez explains dengue's changing symptoms, the return of measles and what to do, and not do, when fever strikes.
FisheriesResidents say a gang poisoned the Dhalai River in Kamalganj, Moulvibazar; the upazila health officer warns that cooking does not fully destroy the poison in dead fish.
EnvironmentLaunched by environment minister Abdul Awal Mintoo with UNDP and the World Economic Forum's Global Plastic Action Partnership, the platform aims to join up government, business and waste workers.
FisheriesAt a VGF rice distribution for the brood hilsa campaign in Chandpur, fisheries and agriculture minister Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid blamed shoaling, pollution and sandbars for the fall in hilsa supply.
HealthState minister for health Dr M A Muhit says a new community-based mental health project will be piloted in 20 upazilas before being expanded across the country.
HealthCiting a New England Journal of Medicine study and American Heart Association advice, Prothom Alo reports that sudden heavy exertion briefly raises heart attack risk, mostly in people not used to it.
IslamIslam counts care for guests as part of faith; Monzurul Haque writes on the Quran and hadith on hospitality, the guesthouses and langar kitchens of Muslim history, and the etiquette of host and guest.
HealthOne child in 700 is born with a cleft lip or palate; plastic surgeon Dr Shahnur Sharmin sets out which operation comes at what age and how to feed and support a child before and after.
IslamSending Usama's army, standing firm against those who refused zakat and compiling the Quran: Prothom Alo's religion desk on three decisions of the first caliph after the Prophet's death.
GalleryBefore autumn is out, a light mist is gathering over Sylhet's haor wetlands each afternoon; Prothom Alo photographer Anis Mahmud pictured ducks, fishers and people heading home.
GalleryBird lovers in Pabna rescued 14 lesser whistling ducks a poultry seller was carrying in a sack to sell and released them on a lake at Pabna University of Science and Technology.
The roughly Tk 7,000 crore PARTNER programme has reached 22 percent implementation in three years and three months; on 6 October Dr Md Shakhawat Hossain Sharif, who helped design it, was made project director.
Dilruba Khatun of Meherpur now keeps about 1,000 ducks and hatches some 2,000 ducklings a week in a 36,000-egg incubator, three years after starting with Tk 30,000.
Started from six scions brought from India in 2017, the September-October Kalyanbhog mango now covers at least 50 bighas around Gomostapur and sells for Tk 16,000 to 18,000 a maund.
Rangamati produced 13,500 tonnes of pomelo on 1,175 hectares this year, worth Tk 20 crore to farmers and Tk 100 crore in trade, but growers lack cold storage and face higher transport costs.
Mealybugs have attacked Aman rice fields across Kurigram, including Ulipur and Rajarhat; the extension office says drought may be driving the outbreak and is advising farmers in the field.
Undredged for years, the Kadamtali sanctuary on the Tangon River in Pirganj has silted up, putting thousands of brood fish weighing 30 to 50 kg at risk.
CropsA farmer's guide on FarmingPortal explains how heavy axle loads compact soil, how a single pass of 10-ton axles can cut corn yields by up to 27 percent in a dry year, and how wider, low-pressure tyres, dry-soil traffic and varied tillage depths help prevent damage.
AgribusinessIrish agriculture minister Martin Heydon has confirmed a €46.2 million scheme, combining EU exceptional aid with a 200 percent national top-up, to pay farmers €40 a tonne on fertiliser bought in the 2025 season, without any application, before the end of 2026.
Watch
VideoIn the latest AgriView episode, agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo asks whether the enlarged BRICS bloc is opening real markets for South African produce, or mostly producing talk.
VideoAt Bindhara in Panchbibi, Joypurhat, small dark-skinned Black Baby watermelons hang from bamboo trellises. The 60-day crop needs 50 grams of seed a bigha, yields 1,200 to 1,500 fruits or 4 to 4.5 tonnes, and at Tk 30 a kilo earns far more than other field crops.
VideoShykh Seraj examines the government's first 180 days in agriculture, from farm loan waivers and farmer cards to crop insurance and canal excavation.
In pictures
GalleryLate-autumn mist settles over Sylhet's haor in the afternoons1 photosGalleryFrom a sack to a campus lake: 14 lesser whistling ducks freed in Pabna1 photos
GalleryA fig tree grows upside down in the Roman ruins of Baia, near Naples1 photos
GalleryFrom the magpie robin to a fish eagle: seven familiar birds through a student's lens1 photos
GalleryDawn to 9am: a banana market on the banks of the Karatoya in Bogura1 photos
GalleryGlimpse: a tomato plot, betel vines, hill papayas and Padma erosion1 photos
GalleryIn pictures, 9 October: mended nets, a scarecrow, kenaf in bloomSection
EnvironmentCopernicus says September 2026 averaged 16.27 C globally, 1.63 C above pre-industrial levels, the second month in a row above 1.5 C, while sea surface temperatures set a record and the Nino 3.4 region hit an all-time high of 29.70 C.
EnvironmentGuimarães in northern Portugal, European Green Capital for 2026, has spent a decade building green corridors linking parks, rivers, farmland and forest, and satellite research shows surface temperatures fell by up to 2.49 C where green roofs and urban gardens were added.
EnvironmentIn a signed commentary, Wildlife Trust of India chief ecologist Samir Kumar Sinha argues that the move of tigress T138 from Bihar's Valmiki reserve to Buxa in West Bengal shows how a restored reserve can restock another, if prey, corridors and local communities are looked after.
CropsIRRI and Regrow Ag have signed a five-year agreement to combine IRRI's field emissions data with Regrow's DNDC model, so that rice carbon projects and national emission inventories measure methane and nitrous oxide on the same basis.
CropsFrench startup CarbonFarm, which uses AI on satellite images and field data to measure methane and water savings on smallholder rice farms and turn them into carbon credits, has raised €7 million ($7.8 million) to expand in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
CropsLaunching the 2026/27 Multi-Planting Season in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal's agriculture MEC warned that El Nino could bring below-normal rain and heat to the province's maize, dry bean and soya areas, and promised early warnings and soil-tested fertiliser for smallholders.
