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Bangladesh Agriculture University (BAU) has developed some methods to produce disease-free seeds and to keep cropland free from pests.
   A professor of the Department of Plant Pathology, Dr M Bahadur Miah, developed the technologies, which are environment friendly, with his research at IPM laboratory.
   He started his Integrated Pest Management (IPM) mission on June 9, 2002 under a project titled Development an Integrated Approach for Management of Blight in Eggplant.
   The United States Department of Agriculture financed the laboratory research programme for this.
   The IPM lab situated on the third floor of the Agriculture Faculty Building of BAU has all modern facilities for research, the scientist said.
   The project worked for the plant disease management with an integrated approach which might obviously be agro-ecologically feasible, economically profitable, biologically sustainable and socially acceptable.
   The project also aimed at formulating bio-pesticide as an essential component of biological crop disease management, transferring the research output to the client groups through training programme on regular basis and to facilitate the graduate students pursuing MS and PhD in Plant Pathology and Bio-technology.
   Dr Bahadur said that when crops are attacked with pests, the farmers have no option but use pesticides to protect their crops.
   But use of pesticides for years together goes against the environment as many useful insects are also killed, said the professor.
   Dr Miah said the seeds produced and preserved by the farmers are usually diseased in most cases and those do not give optimum yield.
   Dr Miah developed seed treating device to help the farmers to get disease-free seeds. A farmer can easily use the device with a very low cost.
   Hundreds of farmers in 13 districts are now using this device successfully, said the scientist, adding that the germination rate of treated seeds is between 90 to 92 per cent while the germination rate of untreated seeds is only 52 per cent.
   This device is being distributed among the farmers free of cost and with training, said the source.
   The IPM lab was also invented a disease-control tablet. The tablet made from garlic and Allamanda (a kind of flower) is used in seed treatment. It costs only five taka to treat seeds for one hectare of land by the tablets.
   According to the method, the top soil (6 inches) is treated with bio-pesticide on the one hand and treated seeds are sown in seedbed on the other. Seedlings will be transplanted to the treated soil after five days of treatment.
   Utilising the method, vegetables like tomato, eggplant, chilli, cucurbits, cauliflower, cabbage and radish can be produced successfully.
   The lab has provided training to over 100 people of 13 district of the country.
   Some farmers of Nandina in Jamalpur who received training from IPM lab said that they used seed treating devices and got good results.
   Sohab Hossain, an eggplant grower of Gafargaon in Mymensingh, claimed to gain much profit using garlic tablets in his cropland.

The cultivation of pigeon pea or arahar is declining in the south-western region despite huge demand of pulse in the country.
   Lack of motivation and awareness among peasants
   and less profitability restrain pigeon pea farming on large scale.
   The DAE sources said a total of 46 hectares of land has been brought under the pigeon pea farming in Jhenaidah.
   Upazila-wise break-up of pigeon pea achievement was one hectare in Kaliganj, 25 hectares in Mohespur, 10 hectares in Sailakupa and Harinakundu each.
   No land has been brought under the pigeon pea farming in Jhenaidah sadar and Kotchandpur upazila.
   In the current season only 500 hectares of land has been brought under pigeon pea farming in the south-western districts.
   Pigeon pea is traditionally consumed by the villagers in their favourite dish hotchpotch.
   The plant has herbal importance and its leaves are used as medicine for jaundice.
   The plant also increases soil fertility. The dry plants are burnt as fuel in urban and rural areas.