The perching system introduced by the agriculture department for keeping Aman-paddy fields pest free has been gaining popularity and ensuring success among the farmers of Noakhali’s Subornochar.
According to the local agriculture office, farmers of Subornachar have planted 23 kinds of transplanted Aman (T-Aman) in a total of 37 thousand hectares land in this season.
Upazila agriculture officer (acting) Mizanur Rahman said, perching system had proved to be very popular among the farmers as it requires almost no money and yields a high result in keeping the fields pest free.
Perching system is basically about placing pieces of tree branches randomly in the rice field. The idea is to attract birds to perch on the branches and eat up the insects. Usually three branches are placed in every 10 decimal of land.
The black drongo, locally known as Finga, is the commonly seen bird in the paddy fields. It helps keep the field pest free by eating up harmful Majra poka, Ghash Foring and other insect.
This indigenous method has been in use for a very long but recently gained much attention due to the promotion and motivation by Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). “Farmers are using the system for at least 20 thousand hectares out of 37 thousand hectares of paddy field in the Upazila,” Mizanur Rahman said.
The most positive aspects of the perching system are that it is very environment friendly, easy to do and economically profitable for the farmers.
Farmer Mostafa Kamal, Abdur Rob, Main Uddin and Biplob Chandra Das and many others acknowledged the effectiveness of the perching system.
They said, it used to be difficult to control pest with the low quality insecticides from various companies. It was also harmful for the soil and other living beings.
The farmers urged the government to emphasise on finding alternative and environment-friendly ways of controlling pests and boosting production.
