The concluding session of a two-day workshop in progress at the Fruit Research Station in the Rajshahi city recently — BSS Photo RAJSHAHI, Mar 16 (BSS): Sustainable promotion of bio-pesticide is very crucial for producing safe food side by side with protecting soil health from further degradation.
Using chemical pesticides in farming fields is always harmful to soil and public health, crops and environment. So, there is no way but to giving utmost importance towards promoting bio-pesticides widely.
Agricultural scientists and researchers came up with the observation while addressing the closing session of a two-day training workshop for trainers at Fruit Research Station (FRS), an entity of Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), in Rajshahi city.
BARI in association with its 'Development and Expansion of Bio-rational- based Integrated Pest Management Technologies of Vegetables, Fruits and Betel Leaf in Bangladesh' project organised the workshop titled "Bio-rational Based Management of Insect pest and diseases of vegetables and fruit crops".
Scientists and researchers from BARI's Entomology and Plant Pathology Division conducted the training sessions as resource persons disseminating their expertise on the issue.
More than 70 sub-assistant agriculture officers and scientific assistance, who took part in the training, were given ideas and knowledge on how to promote safe and eco-friendly pest management technologies in vegetable and fruit farming fields through motivating and inspiring the farmers in general.
Chaired by FRS Principal Scientific Officer (PSO) Dr Alim Uddin, the session was addressed, among others, by PSOs Dr Ashraf Uddin Ahmed, Dr Nirmal Kumar Dutta, Dr Sultan Ahmed and Dr Ziaur Rahman and Senior Scientific Officer Dr Aktaruzzaman Sarker.
Addressing as guest of honour, Rezaul Islam, Deputy Director of the project, says normally farmers apply chemical insecticides and pesticides in farming fields, killing all the insects including the useful ones causing environmental degradation.
But when the harmful insects are detected through the bio-pest management technologies, they can save money by applying cheaper bio-pesticides to kill that particular pest as per the expert's suggestion.
Agriculturist Islam, who is also Deputy Director (Integrated Pest Management) of Department of Agriculture Extension, urged the participants to motivate the farmers in this regard through the best uses of their knowledge acquired from the training.
He says all insects are not harmful for the crops but the chemical pesticides or insecticides are more or less dangerous for both human health and other beneficial insects.
Agriculturist Rezaul Islam, however, says the destructive as well as the injurious insects can easily be controlled through promoting eco- friendly method of using organic fertilizer and indigenous insecticides instead of chemical ones.
Bio-pest management system should be promoted among the growers widely to protect the beneficial insects from degradation for the sake of maintaining a sound environment and that is very important for a sound ecosystem.
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