A farmers' rally organised by UBINIG and the Nayakrishi Andolon in Ishwardi and Atgharia, Pabna, on Sunday afternoon, 11 October, called for farming without chemical fertiliser and pesticide and for saving local crop varieties. Several hundred men and women farmers attended the gathering in South Haralpara village of Majhpara union, Atgharia upazila.
The chief guest, the poet, essayist and thinker Farhad Mazhar, said farming must be based on life, nature and the environment, and accused seed companies of destroying the farming system in the name of modernisation. "If we want to survive, we must build a farming system free of chemical fertiliser and poison. We must protect local varieties," he said. He also told farmers they would lose their faith if they farmed by the companies' rules, and criticised the government as being run at the companies' bidding.
Farida Akhter, a former fisheries and livestock adviser and the special guest, said fertiliser and pesticides are being overused in villages in the name of modern agriculture, raising health risks, and that artificial breeding programmes are harming native livestock.
Abul Hossain, a farmer who grows crops with organic manure and natural methods instead of chemical fertiliser and pesticide, told the rally that his chemical-free vegetables sell for more than other produce at local markets, so he profits and buyers get vegetables free of poison.
Jannatul Khatun, a farmer's daughter, said both her parents grow crops naturally without fertiliser or pesticide and that she is proud of it as a farmer's child.
Azmira Khatun, manager of UBINIG's Ishwardi regional office, chaired the rally. Speakers included UBINIG director Sima Das Shimu, researcher Golam Mostafa Roni, Atgharia upazila livestock officer Md Nazmul Hossain and farmers Aklima Khatun, Mujdar Ali and Rezia Khatun. Reported by Samakal's Ishwardi correspondent.
File photo: Farida Akhter at a meeting of small farmers in Shahjadpur, Sirajganj (July 2025). Photo: Press Information Department / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: samakal
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