KHULNA, – Using of Eco-friendly pest management method in farming fields of transplanted Aman paddy has become visible as many farmers have started adopting the method in the Dakop upazila in the district.

During the current season, many farmers have seen adopting parching method which contributes a lot towards lessening demands of chemical
pesticides.

District and Upazila offices of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) side by side with the research entities concerned are providing
technical support to the farmers for coping with this method.

Sagor Halder, a farmer of Pankhali village under Dakop upazila, has cultivated Aman paddy on his six bighas of land. He has started using parching method. “Parching method has gotten us multidimensional benefits,” he said.

Foni Bhushon Mondal, a farmer of Kalabogi village also said he has cultivated Aman on 15 bighas of land and 83 percent land using parching
method in this season.

Deputy Director of Khulna DAE Agriculturist Pankaj Kanti Majumdar said light-trap and parching are environmentally sound method for detecting
harmful insects.

Eco-friendly ‘light-trap’ method as an alternative to pesticides control getting popular among the farmers at different villages as they are attaining
significant success in pest management on transplanted Aman paddy, he said.

He also said the low-cost method is helpful for maintaining ecological balance in the fields. The farmers are extremely enthusiastic in using the
method because they are reaping benefit from it.

DAE officials have introduced the programme in the district to detect the harmful insects in the Aman fields and use the insecticides accordingly
to save the crops.

Dakop Upazila Agriculture officer Mehedi Hasan Khan said, the farmers set the light-traps at night with kerosene lamp, charger light or electric
bulb and place a pot with detergent or kerosene mixed water under the light.

The light attracts the insects that die after falling into the pot. If harmful insects are found, experts advise the farmers to adopt effective pest
control method.

Normally farmers apply costly insecticides in the paddy fields, killing all the insects including the useful insects, and causing environmental
degradation.

But when the harmful insects are detected through the light-trap method, they can save money by applying a cheaper insecticide to kill that particular
pest as per the expert’s suggestion.

Meanwhile, the DAE has set a target of producing more than 2.38-lakh metric tons of transplanted Aman rice from 91,180 hectares of land in all
upazila in the district during this season.

Agriculturist Pankaj said low cost light-trap programme has been promoted among the farmers for the last couple of years to manage pest effectively. This year they are giving more emphasis on the programme.

Through using the light-trap and parching they can control harmful insects and take proper pest control measure, which is cheaper and
environment-friendly.

This method has reduced indiscriminate use of pesticides by 50 percent and the farmers are also learning to identify useful insects in the paddy
fields.