Hundreds of betel leaf farmers from Mohonpur, Durgapur and Bagmara upazilas in Rajshahi are puzzled as they have yet to find any remedy for the disease which is causing the betel leaf plant's stump to rot.
They fear they will lose their all the capital they invested in the betel leaf farming this year.
This correspondent visited several betel leaf farms, which were affected with the disease, in the upazilas of the district yesterday. He found most of the betel leaf plants were dying from this disease.
Riaz Uddin, a farmer from Mohonpur's Moumasi village said they had not found any medicine that could save their betel leaf plants from this disease and they are not getting any suggestions from the agriculture office regarding this emergency.
Anwar Hossain, another farmer from the same village, said he expected that he would get Tk4 lakh in profits from each bigha, but it does not seem likely he would be able to earn back even his investment money this year.
Mokhlesur Rahman and Nurul Islam, two farmers from Durgapur's Sukhandighi village, said all of their betel leaf plants were dying from this disease. As soon as a plant touches land, it gets affected with it and begins withering away.
They said they are facing huge losses because almost 80% of the betel leaf plant farms in the upazila are affected with this disease.
Mansur Rahman, a farmer from Bagmara's Sripur village, said they had one and a half bighas of land from betel leaf plant cultivation, of which one bigha has recently been completely ruined by the disease.
The remaining 10 kathas of betel leaf plants are also on the verge of ruins, he said.
Ramzan Ali, another farmer from the same village, said agricultural officials recently took away the soil from here for testing. However, they have not yet come up with any update about it.
“The disease has become an epidemic. Betel leaf farmers here are becoming destitute.”
Deputy Director at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Rajshahi, Abul Kalam Azad said this disease spread during the rainy season. Though it cannot be prevented fully, it can be controlled.
“The disease has not taken that great a toll on the farming, however,” he said, adding that it has affected only 58 hectares of betel leaf plants. He also said that they had been creating awareness on how to control such diseases.
Despite the stump rotting disease affecting the betel leaf farming, said Rajshahi DAE Deputy Director Abul Kalam, it would fetch an income of roughly Tk106 crore for farmers in the three upazilas this year.
