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FisheriesA study led by Professor Badiuzzaman Khan of BAU found microplastics in the sediment of all 25 fish ponds sampled in Trishal, Mymensingh, averaging 11.04 particles per kilogram, and 90 particles in 150 farmed fish of six species.
VegetablesOf Dinajpur's 27,350-hectare vegetable target this season, 7,250 hectares are early varieties; chasing better prices, farmers began planting cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal and tomato on high land from mid-September.
CropsIntense heat and a lack of rain have left Aman fields short of water across 15 unions and the municipality of Pirganj, Rangpur, with soil cracking in places; farmers are paying for extra irrigation just as the panicles emerge.
LivestockShahin, formerly unemployed, of Gayerpara in Naogaon Sadar bought 700 ducks four months ago and raises them on an open beel; the flock lays at least 500 eggs a day, for a net profit of about Tk 5,250 a day after costs.
EnvironmentMore than a hundred trees, some 40 to 50 years old, have been cut on railway and government land at Faujdarhat in Sitakunda, Chattogram; locals say a group is levelling hillocks for a container depot, while the railway says it knows nothing.
AgribusinessBangladesh Bank raised this year's agricultural and rural credit target from Tk 39,000 crore to Tk 60,000 crore, but banks lent Tk 6,858 crore in July and August, 11.43 percent of it; defaults have risen to 42.38 percent of farm loans.
CookingIn cook Afroza Khanom Mukta's recipe, large prawns and grated pineapple cook without any water in the pineapple's own juice and are served in the pineapple shell.
CookingProthom Alo's lifestyle desk makes ramen with a chicken stock simmered for an hour, chicken breast poached in soy-seasoned stock and seared in sesame oil, and noodles topped with vegetables, prawns and egg.
GalleryProthom Alo's photographers on 21 October caught the Aman harvest in Rajbari, trawlers moored in Barishal during the hilsa ban, fishing on the Phuljhor river, a kite over Sylhet, and railway creeper, rose mallow and wild flowers.
GalleryIn the hill forests of Saphchhari Lumbini and Ulichhara Kumratila in Rangamati, Prothom Alo photographer Supriyo Chakma photographed a rufous treepie, purple and crimson sunbirds, a black-hooded oriole, a coppersmith barbet, a golden-fronted leafbird, a tailorbird and a kingfisher.
GalleryProthom Alo's photographers on 22 October caught late-autumn fields, markets and nature: Pabna's beans, Bogura's irrigation and coconut market, Khulna's pumpkins and betel nut, Rangpur's fishers, water lilies and mongooses, Rangamati's butterflies and birds.
CropsA Cambridgeshire manager melts his own urea and cuts N by about 20%, a Suffolk grower has gone from 200-220 to about 120 kg/ha, and a Pembrokeshire dairy farmer grew the same grass on 83 kg/ha.
AgrotechClive Bailye's AI farming agent, Giles, watched the government site, filled in his Sustainable Farming Incentive form when the window opened and had it ready to review by 10.30am; the pot closed at 3.48pm.
VegetablesIslam Uddin, a farmer in Atwari, Panchagarh, says his bitter gourd plants on about three bighas began to discolour and die the day after he sprayed a bio-pesticide on 18 October; the seller and the company deny responsibility.
AgribusinessWith much of Dhaka away for the long Puja holiday, demand for vegetables in the capital's wholesale markets has fallen about 40 percent while supply is down only 20 to 25 percent, leaving about 2,860 tonnes unsold a day at Karwan Bazar.
AgribusinessIn Saltha, Faridpur, farmers say a 50 kg sack of DAP or TSP set at Tk 1,050 is costing them Tk 1,600 to 1,700; the administration says there is no shortage and two dealers have been fined.
IslamA voluntary prayer of two or four rakat asking Allah's help with any lawful need, which may be prayed at any time except the three forbidden times, followed by the supplication reported in Tirmidhi 479, writes Abrar Nayem in Desh Rupantor.
HealthCiting Johns Hopkins Medicine sleep specialist Dr David Neubauer, Bangla Tribune lists ADHD stimulants, some decongestants, nicotine, some antidepressants and diuretics as medicines that can upset sleep.
CropsAfter an August spike driven by lower output estimates, hoarding and festive demand, duty-free imports, stock limits and an earlier crush have reversed the market while cane costs keep rising.
AgrotechThe Pune company reported Rs 219.3 crore in FY26, targets Rs 400 crore in FY27 as new farms come into production, and plans to bring 25,000 farmers into joint farming.
EnvironmentFires fuelled by El Nino drought have burned about 2 million hectares in Indonesia; environmental group WALHI finds about half the hotspots inside company concessions, and Singapore has served 10 companies with fire-prevention notices.
FisheriesThe PMMSY-funded unit of 20 floats and 120 growing ropes could produce about 3 to 4 tonnes of mussels a season, and a new hatchery aims to end dependence on wild seed.
VegetablesIn the waterlogged wetlands of Nazirpur and Nesarabad in Pirojpur, a 200-year-old floating bed method produces about ten million vegetable seedlings a season, sold for about Tk 10 crore; some 6,000 farmers are involved.
CropsAlmost all of the 17 polynet houses built in Pabna under the Rajshahi division agricultural development project, at Tk 24 lakh each, have stopped working within four years; farmers blame excess heat, broken irrigation and poor materials.
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
GalleryBangladesh in pictures, 21 October: Aman harvest, idle trawlers and railway creeper1 photosGalleryColours of the Rangamati hills: sunbirds, orioles, a barbet and a leafbird1 photosGalleryBangladesh in pictures, 22 October: beans for market, water lilies and a sunbird1 photos
GalleryGlimpse: ambarella by boat, bean fields and wading to the Jamuna chars1 photos
GalleryBento, banchan, meze, thali: how seven countries turn serving food into an art1 photos
GalleryGlimpse, 19 October: dew on Bogura's bean fields, hill women harvest rice in Bandarban1 photos
GalleryCox's Bazar hotels and resorts run without clearance, some inside a critical areaSection
EnvironmentThe Animals for Biodiversity and Health guide, launched at the UN biodiversity summit in Yerevan, links animal welfare to zoonotic disease and antimicrobial resistance and cites Bangladesh's One Health framework.
EnvironmentFires linked to land clearing and an El Niño-driven drought have burned an estimated 1.9 million hectares, closed schools in Malaysia and put Singapore at the top of a world pollution ranking.
EnvironmentA University of Bath study of 211 Asháninka and Yanesha participants found the share unable to afford healthy food fell from 73% to 26%, while nearly 90% adopted forest-friendly practices.
FlowersGrevillea plants brought from Thailand flower almost all year at Barishal Nursery in Savar; writer Mrityunjay Roy matches them to Grevillea acanthifolia, a shrub native to New South Wales.
EnvironmentBangladesh's inland water transport authority has proposed a Tk 2,000 crore project with a resort, restaurants, an eco-park and a swimming pool on about 63 acres recovered from encroachers on the Bakkhali River in Cox's Bazar; environmental campaigners call it harmful to the river.
EnvironmentThe Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association's Aquanty modelling, which forecast 2.5°C of warming by 2050 and stressed groundwater in three Manitoba watersheds, now covers Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec.
