EnvironmentOpenbills, egrets, whistling ducks, cormorants and other birds are arriving on Chalan Beel's wetlands; locals and conservationists want a sanctuary and tighter watch against hunting.
CropsNatore Sugar Mill has fired its boiler and will crush 90,000 tonnes of cane over 65 days from 13 November to make 5,580 tonnes of sugar; the cane price is up Tk 26 a quintal.
A pure food court found the factory of Natore town's well-known Mouchak bakery making undated bread, biscuits and chanachur in dirty conditions beside a cattle farm, and fined the owner Tk 2 lakh.
EnvironmentA University of Rajshahi study finds that only 1 percent of Chalan Beel's 5,097 square kilometres has very high groundwater potential, with falling rainfall and boro irrigation pumping among the main causes.
AgribusinessTk 3,000 crore of Bangladesh Bank's Tk 10,000 crore agricultural refinance fund is set aside for North Bengal; entrepreneurs in farm production, storage, transport, marketing and processing can borrow up to Tk 500,000 without collateral through 39 banks.
EnvironmentThe old courses of the Barahi, Swaramangala and Daya rivers through Rajshahi are now drains carrying untreated hospital, industrial and household waste into the Baranai, where fish have died and riverside residents report skin disease; a treatment plant is still at the planning stage.
LivestockSharmin Akter of Gurudaspur lost about Tk 100,000 on her first batch of Sonali chickens seven years ago; she now keeps about 2,000 Kazi Farms red pullet layers and has put in some Tk 700,000.
CropsRang Bilash cane covers 126 hectares in Natore's Gurudaspur, Baraigram and Singra this year, yielding at least 1,213 tonnes of juice; growers say garlic or onion grown between the rows pays the cost of the cane.
LivestockThe livestock office in Bagatipara, Natore, has six people in post against 11 sanctioned positions and two of them are on deputation, hampering vaccination, courtyard meetings and home visits.
LivestockUnder the PPR eradication and foot-and-mouth disease control project, goats and sheep aged 3 to 12 months are being vaccinated free in the five unions and municipality of Naldanga, Natore.
CropsA sudden upstream surge on 10-13 September flooded eight chars of Bilmaria union in Lalpur, Natore, hitting 1,300 farmers; as the water recedes, the agriculture office has sent its damage estimate to the government.
CropsHyacinth carried in by floodwater is stuck in at least 20 beels of Gurudaspur, Singra, Naldanga and Tarash; farmers fear they cannot sow mustard, wheat, maize and garlic unless it is cleared soon.
EnvironmentAt a Department of Environment project event in Natore, speakers called for proper handling of chemical, farm and electronic waste as well as plastic.
IslamAbbas Ali Pramanik, a former primary school teacher in Jogendranagar village, Gurudaspur, Natore, can barely move but recites the Quran without spectacles; neighbours want safe housing and treatment for him.
Bagatipara Upazila Health Complex in Natore has 50-bed facilities but staff for 31 beds; X-rays have stopped for six weeks for want of film, two pathology workers handle all tests amid chemical shortages, and a new generator sits idle without fuel funds.
Not one of the 23 municipalities in Rajshahi and Natore has its own dumping station; 22 leave their waste by roads, in rivers and on open land, killing trees and choking the Musakhan River.
A mobile court in Lalpur, Natore, fined BADC fertiliser dealer Saiful Traders Tk 50,000 under the consumer rights law after its stock did not match its stock register.
With fuel prices up, demand for ploughing and levelling fields with horses instead of tractors and power tillers is rising in villages of Talam union, Tarash, Sirajganj, and some farmers have made it their trade.
Farmers and fish farmers in Natore's Lalpur upazila say fertiliser allocated to BCIC and BADC dealers is passing through illegal hoarders and coming back through sub-dealers and unlicensed retailers at Tk 400-500 a bag above the government price, without vouchers; the upazila agriculture officer say
Footage of sacks on a cart bound for Tarash in Sirajganj spread on Facebook; the dealer says two farmers bought 16 sacks with receipts, and the upazila agriculture officer has promised an inquiry.
Four young entrepreneurs in Natore have built an integrated fish farm of 20 ponds on 20 acres, using aerators to create river-like conditions for high-density farming.
