Our Correspondent
RAJSHAHI, June 23: The cultivation of betel-leaf, a kind of leaf consumed by a large number of people, is suffering a setback in the district, causing huge losses to thousands of betel-leaf farmers in six upazilas of Rajshahi district because of the 'stem-rot' disease infecting the plants.
Betel-leaf is the main cash crop of Mohonpur, Durgapur, Bagmara and Paba upazila of the district. Some 40 per cent of sweet betel-leaves of the country are supplied from these upazilas.
For hundreds of years betel-leaf remained the main source of earning for the people of those areas.
But for the last two decades, betel-leaf farms (Baroj) of these upazilas are being attacked with a virulent disease, locally known as 'stem rot' disease.
As there is no betel-leaf research institute in the country the disease has taken a serious turn and farmers are failing to contain it even after applying pesticides and germicide according to the suggestion of the local Agriculture Extension Department (AED) officials.
During the last three years, more than 200 betel-leaf farms of the six upazilas had been completely destroyed by the disease.
Betel leaf farmers of the district said when attacked with the stem-rot disease, the leaves of the betel plants turn red and later the entire plant dies.
They further said that many lands earlier used for betel-leaf farming are now being used for cultivation of vegetables and Rabi crops. The attack by viral disease is making the betel-leaf dwarf in size and the price of those dwarf leaves are also very low in the markets.
Betel-leaf cultivation suffering setback
FE Team | Published: June 24, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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