Insecticide damages 300 bigha potato land in Rajshahi

RAJSHAHI, Feb 9: At least 300-bigha potato lands across the district have been damaged after using 'Newjam' insecticide of Blessing Agrovet Ltd.
Now, the farmers have incurred loss more than Tk 2 crore.
The affected farmers of Mohonpur, Paba and Tanore upazilas have submitted a written allegation with the Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner demanding their compensation while the authority has seized the insecticide and imposed a ban on its sale.
The farmers said as they have been cultivating potato for years in leased lands at the upazilas, the damage would play havoc on them.
During the cultivation period, the farmers detected black rot disease in the potato plants and spayed the 'Newjam' insecticide like previous years but later the leaves became yellow and the potatoes got hard, fractured and rotten.
Meanwhile, Area Manager Jahurul Haque already visited the affected lands and found the proof.
Two of the affected farmers- Masud Rana and Rezaul Karim said, "All our potatoes on the fields have got damaged after spraying the insecticide. Now we are worried about recouping different costs as we planted the potato of leased lands after taking loan. We could not store the potato in the cold storages as the owners prevented us from doing so."
Admitting the problem, Mozaffor Sheikh, a dealer of the insecticide said, "I have been supplying the product for many days but recently 50 cartons of the insecticide have created some problems. The representative of the company visited the fields. After the incident, no packets of the insecticide were sold and all the packets were sent to lab."
Paba Upazila Agriculture Officer AKM Monjur Mowla said, "A huge damage has happened in the potato fields for using the insecticide. We have already issued a ban on the product's sale and seized many packets."
"An agreement between the victim farmers and the company is in process, after which the farmers would be compensated," he added.