Agriculture Minister MK Anwar yesterday asked the entomologists to evolve ways to combat diseases on croplands without using chemical fertilizers.

“Use of organic fertilisers instead of chemical ones would help reduce agricultural production costs and have positive impact on environment,” he said while inaugurating a daylong workshop on “progress and prospect of IPM on rice, vegetables, fruits and sugarcane.

Bangladesh Entomological Society organised the workshop at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) auditorium here.

Presided over by President of

the society and Executive Chairman or BARC Dr M Nurul Alam, the inaugural function was addressed, among others, by director general of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Ibrahim Khalil and eminent entomologist Prof Dr Monwar Ahmed while Prof Shariful Islam presented the keynote paper.

Laying emphasis on ensuring fare price of agri-products, the minister said, “We have to take appropriate steps so that the farmers get fare price of their produces. otherwise, he said, they will desert their profession leaving behind agriculture.”

“The farmers will not survive if we fail to ensure fare price of their

produces,” he added.

MK Anwar said despite increase in production cost in agri-sector, the cost of agricultural production did not increase that much, which could create a negative impact on this very vital sector.

He also asked the agricultural scientists to take appropriate measures to reduce post-harvest wastage of agricultural goods.

Representatives from different research organisations, universities and non-governmental organisations participated in the workshop where five technical papers were presented by the country's eminent entomologists.