Aman yields are good in Panchagarh this season, but in some areas many farmers have suffered losses from attacks by karen poka (the brown planthopper). Even pesticide could not save the aman crop on this land.

Farmers will not get a yield from even 20 per cent of the affected aman land. Not only that, the straw from infested fields is of no use either. Even where neighbouring fields have produced a bumper crop, farmers with infested land face losses.

A tour of Hafizabad, Haribhasa and various areas of Sadar union in Panchagarh Sadar upazila on Wednesday 16 November found fields with paddy plants but no grain. In particular, a good deal of aman land in Bhusibhita and Amarkhana villages of Sadar union has been ruined, and the aman farmers there have lost everything to the pest. Aman in the surrounding areas has also been damaged by karen poka. The plants in these fields look fine but have produced no grain.

Farhad Hossain, a farmer in Bhusibhita, said: "I sharecropped two bighas from someone on condition of giving 10 maunds (400 kg) of paddy per bigha (33 decimals). But applying pesticide to the land did not work. Because of the karen poka attack I got no yield from the land. Even the cows will not eat the straw from this land, so nobody buys it. I am ruined."

The local agriculture department and farmers say that as soon as the grain appears, a pest of the brown planthopper type starts attacking the paddy. Known locally as karen poka, it sucks the sap from the base of the rice plants, so for want of water and sap the plants grow but produce no grain. Cows will not eat the straw from infested fields. Harvesting of aman has begun on healthy land, and by Tuesday paddy had been cut on about 35 per cent of the district's aman land.

The aman target in Panchagarh this year was set at 1 lakh 10 hectares, and aman was grown on 1 lakh 30 hectares. The rice production target from the three types of paddy, hybrid, high-yielding and local, is 3 lakh 8 thousand 213 tonnes. The agriculture department says the yield is better this year than in the past four or five years, and that the pest attack on a small amount of land will not affect the target.

Al Amin, a farmer in Hafizabad union of Sadar upazila, said: "I sprayed pesticide three times on my 13 bighas, so no pests could get in. The yield is better than in any other year. I hope to get more than 20 maunds (800 kg) of paddy a bigha. The current price of paddy is also in our favour."

Nur Islam, a farmer in Amarkhana village of Sadar upazila, said: "I grew aman on four bighas. The paddy on one bigha was wiped out by karen poka. The other three bighas yielded well, so that paddy may make up for the one bigha. But I have made no profit this time."

Md Riaz Uddin, deputy director of the district office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said aman in Panchagarh was better this year than in the past four or five years. Cutting and threshing were under way in different areas, and about 35 per cent of the paddy had already been harvested. "The mood of Nabanna is everywhere in the district, and farmers are happy with good prices. But the brown planthopper has attacked a small amount of land, and this small area will not affect the aman target. Because the weather in Panchagarh was good, there was not much pest attack this year. Farmers here are now very aware, and we gave them proper advice, so they got good yields. Farmers here are happy with the good prices," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.