NEWS reports on Monday said that this season thousands of wheat farmers in the country are frustrated as their wheat plants are withering due to attack by “blast” caused by a fungus – Magnaporthe oryzae, a rare type of disease, occurring in some areas of Bangladesh after Brazil, Pakistan and India for the first time since 1985. The blast affected 1,08,715 hectares of wheat fields in the districts of Jessore, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Jhenaidah, Magura, Barisal and Bhola, causing up to 40 percent of crop damage. So, the country will incur huge financial losses of at least Tk.1,800 crore in terms of lost yields this year. This is alarming and experts call for immediate measures for protecting our wheat crop from this wheat blast.
According to the International Maize and Wheat Research Center (CIMMYT), wheat blast is one of the most fearsome and intractable wheat diseases in recent decades. The blast directly strikes the ears of wheat and can shrivel and deform the grain in less than a week from first symptoms, leaving farmers no time to act. As a result, the seeds turn white and die before becoming wheat grains. Almost 90 percent of the crop gets damaged consequently.
Following the maiden blast attack in the wheat fields of mostly Southwestern districts in February-March, the government formed a national committee in late March to map out a future course of action to stop recurrence of the deadly disease. Although such attempt of the government has not become fruitful to curb the disease, Mymensingh Agricultural University is now at an advanced stage of charting out an immediate course of action to deal with the blast.
In this situation, the government should take step to conduct rigorous study with the coordinated research work of national and foreign experts to get rid of the fungus attack on our wheat crop. Since 1985, when scientists discovered it in Brazil’s Paraná state, the disease has raced across South America and then came to Bangladesh this season. The authority concerned of the country knew it earlier; but it didn’t stop to import wheat from Brazil which witnessed the wheat scam last year due to import of lowest quality of wheat.
In this situation, experts suggested not to source seeds from any of these affected districts for distribution among farmers in the next wheat season (November-December). Besides, we must treat all seeds with fungicides and testing seed health at seed pathology labs by collecting samples both from BADC stock and also from seeds saved by farmers. It could be an effective measure to prevent this fungus from turning into an endemic form across the country as the blast fungus generally attacks 50 types of grasses including paddy. Sometimes the fungus moves from one crop to another in a contagion. So, government should be more alert to take vigorous action from protecting our second muesli crop – wheat in addition to other cereals like paddy, maize etc.
