Business Desk :
A field day showcasing Bt brinjal variety-4 was held in Juridakkhinpara, Gojia, Shibgonj, Bogra on Saturday. This variety of brinjal, developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), is resistant to the major insect pest of brinjal, the fruit and is safer to produce and eat, says a press release.
About 100 local farmers attended the field day. Last year a progressive and literate brinjal farmer, Abul Hossain, cultivated Bt brinjal variety-4 and was so pleased with it that he is growing it again this year. Last year he cultivated it on 60 decimal of land and earned about Tk. 150,000.00. According to him, if he had grown traditional brinjal he would have sold it for Tk 75,000.00 from this area of land but would have had to spend half of it spraying chemicals to control the fruit and shoot borer, which is completely absent in Bt brinjal.
Therefore, he said Bt brinjal was four times more profitable than growing non-Bt brinjal. Seeing this huge increase in profitability with Bt brinjal, farmer Abul Hossain decided to cultivate Bt brinjal again this year and said he will continue to do so in the future. Observing the crop’s excellent condition this year in his field, the project office arranged a field day with the help of the Station-in-Charge, Dr. Md. Shahidul Alam, PSO, OFRD, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Chelopara, Bogra. Also in attendance at the field day were Dr. Anthony Shelton, Project Director, Cornell University, USA; Dr. Vijay Paranjape, Associate Director of the project, Sathguru, India and Dr. Md. Jahangir Hossain, Country Project Director, Bangladesh.
The farmers who attended were very happy to see the quality of the Bt brinjal and hear about its yield and profitability. The farmers also showed keen interest in learning more about Bt brinjal including where they could obtain the seed.
After seeing the crop in the field and hearing from Abul Hossain, everyone agreed that Bt brinjal is highly profitable and safer to produce. All the farmers who attended said they will cultivate Bt brinjal in coming years.
A field day showcasing Bt brinjal variety-4 was held in Juridakkhinpara, Gojia, Shibgonj, Bogra on Saturday. This variety of brinjal, developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), is resistant to the major insect pest of brinjal, the fruit and is safer to produce and eat, says a press release.
About 100 local farmers attended the field day. Last year a progressive and literate brinjal farmer, Abul Hossain, cultivated Bt brinjal variety-4 and was so pleased with it that he is growing it again this year. Last year he cultivated it on 60 decimal of land and earned about Tk. 150,000.00. According to him, if he had grown traditional brinjal he would have sold it for Tk 75,000.00 from this area of land but would have had to spend half of it spraying chemicals to control the fruit and shoot borer, which is completely absent in Bt brinjal.
Therefore, he said Bt brinjal was four times more profitable than growing non-Bt brinjal. Seeing this huge increase in profitability with Bt brinjal, farmer Abul Hossain decided to cultivate Bt brinjal again this year and said he will continue to do so in the future. Observing the crop’s excellent condition this year in his field, the project office arranged a field day with the help of the Station-in-Charge, Dr. Md. Shahidul Alam, PSO, OFRD, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Chelopara, Bogra. Also in attendance at the field day were Dr. Anthony Shelton, Project Director, Cornell University, USA; Dr. Vijay Paranjape, Associate Director of the project, Sathguru, India and Dr. Md. Jahangir Hossain, Country Project Director, Bangladesh.
The farmers who attended were very happy to see the quality of the Bt brinjal and hear about its yield and profitability. The farmers also showed keen interest in learning more about Bt brinjal including where they could obtain the seed.
After seeing the crop in the field and hearing from Abul Hossain, everyone agreed that Bt brinjal is highly profitable and safer to produce. All the farmers who attended said they will cultivate Bt brinjal in coming years.
