Leaf blight worries aman farmers of Dinajpur

Bacterial leaf blight has appeared in aman fields of Chirirbandar and Sadar upazilas under the district, much to the worry of farmers before the yielding period this season.

"Leaves of aman plants on my land started looking burnt, which gradually affected whole of the 10-acre field. To save the paddy plants, I applied medicines as per the suggestion of field level agriculture office but to no effect," said Imtiaz Hossain of Boltail village in Dinajpur Sadar upazila.

High officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) visited the affected areas a few days ago and primarily detected the disease as bacterial leaf blight, which was caused due to shortage of potassium in the soil, said Ali Akbar, a field level agriculture official in Dinajpur.

DAE officials suggested applying potassium and magnesium sulphate as remedy but several farmers said they are not getting any result after applying the medicines.

Rifatul Hossain, deputy director of DAE in Dinajpur region, said, "Bacterial leaf blight affected some paddy fields in Dinajpur. Farmers should use medicines in proper doses to get result."

The affected areas in Chirirbandar and Dinajpur Sadar upazilas might be up to 300 hectares, said a source of DAE.

According to the DAE in Dinajpur region, 4.85 lakh hectares of land has been brought under aman cultivation in Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts this year, against the target of 4.76 lakh hectares.

The production target was 14.44 lakh tonnes of rice.