& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Organic farming gains foothold

Star Business Report
Crop production through organic farming practices provides higher benefit in the long-term than producing foods by using chemical fertilisers and pesticides, found a recent study.
The study was conducted by the Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB), a not-for-profit organisation
that supports research that could ensure sustainable poverty alleviation in the country, in two upazilas in Chittagong district.
The cost-benefit analysis of organic farming practices yielded positive results. The gains, although little, were encouraging, the study said.
"What we or farmers have done have become fruitful," said Nilufer-Hye-Karim, project coordinator of
RIB, while presenting the outcome of the project at a seminar held at The Daily Star Centre yesterday.
The seminar was organised by RIB in association with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, a Berlin-based transnational alternative policy group, to share the findings of the project, 'Exploring Alternative Farming Practices to End Hunger in Bangladesh'.The project was taken up in August 2015 with a view to popularising alternative farming practices to meet the global challenges faced in food production by small and marginal farmers, RIB said.
Adequate safe food production for the rising population has become a global challenge in the backdrop of corporate marketing and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, Karim said.
Production has increased over the years largely due to high use of chemical fertiliser and pesticide.
But the use of agrochemicals for production and storage has not only jeopardised health and environment, it has also degraded soil health and affected the natural eco environment, she said.
For the study, alternative farming techniques were deployed in four villages under Anwara and Banshkhali of Chittagong.
Some 20 technologies that include making organic pesticides, vermicompost, pheromone trap and compost for alternative farming were introduced, and 14 of them were accepted by more than 50 percent of the farmers under the study.
However, the farmers did not allocate all of their lands for organic farming as production would have been lower than with the use of chemical fertilisers, said Jalal Uddin, a farmer from Chittagong who attended the programme.
He also did not grow all the vegetables through organic farming practices because of the low demand for pesticide-free food.
Ensuring the marketing of safe food is important for sustainability of alternative cultivation practices, said Delwar Jahan, a journalist.
Organic farming practices are better than high input and chemical-based farming for long-term economic and environmental sustainability, said MM Akash, professor of economics at the University of Dhaka.
Subsequently, he called for taking the best of both the farming practices for optimum benefit.
Crop yield should be increased to feed the growing population, said Rafiqul Islam Mondal, director general of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute.
Not all chemicals are harmful, he said. But the government has taken steps to grow genetically modified foods to cut back on the use of chemical pesticides.
"Already the BARI has released Bt Brinjal and it will apply this month for the release of first GM potato," he said, adding that there would be no toxicity for eating Bt Brinjal.
Chaired by RIB Chairman Shamsul Bari, the seminar was also addressed by RIB Board Member Anisur Rahman, Bangladesh Krishak League General Secretary Shamsul Haque Reza, and Bangladesh Krishak Samity General Secretary Md Sazzad Zahir Chandan.