Blast attack worries Nilphamari boro farmers

Farmers in Dimla upazila are worried as around 200 bighas of boro paddy fields have been attacked by blast disease and the antidotes advised by the agriculture officials are not working.

The affected villages are Pashchim Satnai Piazipara and Thakurganj of the district.

Dimla Upazila Agriculture Officer (UAO) Humayun Kabir said the disease has been caused due to abnormal weather in the Bangla month of Chaitra (mid March-mid April) this year as it remains foggy in the morning with cloudy sky although there is supposed to be scorching heat helping production of boro.

He added that blast disease might also have been caused due to lack of potash in the soil.

While visiting the area on March 5, this correspondent found that around 100 bighas of paddy fields of BR-28, BR-29, Bhitti-28 and Zira varieties were mostly affected by the disease, which is spreading very fast. The disease has now spread to neighbouring village Thakurganj affecting 100 more bighas of land.

Farmer Zakirul Islam Shiblu said he transplanted Bhitti-28 variety of boro paddy on two bighas of land in the middle of February, but a week ago he found that the paddy plants in a section of the fields had turned reddish. He said the plants dried up like straw in two or three days.

He said he took a few affected plants to the upazila agriculture officer, who diagnosed the disease as blast and advised him to spray fungicide Nativo of multinational company Bayer and spread potash fertilizer, but that did not work.

Alamgir Hossain said his 1.5 bighas of paddy field of Zira variety were also affected by the disease, but the remedy suggested by the agriculture officials was ineffective.

Many affected farmers said blast disease has struck more than 100 bighas of land and is spreading very fast, but they can only watch helplessly as no remedy is working.

Nilphamari Deputy Director (DD) of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) GM Idris said spraying fungicide of Nativo or Tropper brand and spreading potash fertilizer on the fields are very effective in combating blast disease.

Regarding the allegation that farmers are not getting results although they are using antidotes as per advice of the officials, Idris said it might be due to use of more or less than the prescribed amount of the medicines.

“The situation is fully under control and severity of the attack is decreasing,” he claimed.  

Territory officer of Bayer Abdul Hye said fungicide Nativo is the best medicine for combating blast disease in boro paddy fields and is used widely in Bangladesh. The fungicide needs to be used in the proper dose (40gm of Nativo mixed with 70-litre of water to be sprayed on 33 decimals of land), otherwise the desired result will not be achieved.