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Intensive cropping in some agro-ecological regions of the country is causing long term degradation of natural resources and environment and hampering food security.
   Use of low doses of fertilisers causes nutrient mining and overdoses cause environmental hazard affecting soil and water quality. The imbalance in nutrient application is causing loss of soil fertility, reduced crop yield, and environmental degradation, a FAO study said.
   A team of Centre for Agri-research and Sustainable Environment and Entrepreneurship Development conducted the study under National Food Policy Capacity Strengthening Programme in three high, medium and low intensive crops producing areas of the country.
   Three unions in Savar of Dhaka where farmers follow high intensive method to produce crops and Shibpur upazila of Narsingdi and Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila with medium and low intensive method respectively came under the study. Dr Nepal Chandra Dey of CASEED, key person of the study, said high-yielding modern varieties are far more demanding of soil nutrients than local varieties. More than double of the recommended dose of urea fertiliser are used for high cropping intensity.
   It was found that even more use of urea in the high cropping intensive area, farmers received less yield from their field but received more yield after less amount of urea use in the low cropping intensive area, he added.
   He said soil degradation would have been less severe if crops straw were returned to the soil, since most of the potassium removed by crop is in the straw. But, in many areas the crop stubble is removed to use as fuel and animal fodder.
   Dr Dey said cultivation of two hybrid variety paddy yielding more than 10 tonnes annually removes about 350 kg of nutrient per hectare. In this way more than two million tonnes of nutrients per year are removed from our arable land.
   About horrific use of pesticides in vegetables, he said if necessary, pesticides are sprayed in the paddy field only 2 or 3 times a season. But, it is common to spray vegetables such as eggplants and country beans several times a week.
   Eggplant producers in three areas showed a range of application from 15 to 150 times for one crop cycle. Around 47 per cent of the farmers of Bangladesh were found to have overused pesticides, with an average overuse rate of 3.4 kg per growing season. It was found common to spray from 3 to 4 times for cauliflower and cabbage.
   About 84 per cent farmers responded that they do not take any protection during pesticide application and 57 per cent replied that they select pesticides, dosages and mode of application based on dealers' suggestions.

Mango production in Jhenaidah is likely to fall this season due to late flowering and pest attacks caused.
   Usually the mango trees are enriched with flowers between early January and mid- February. Although the Bengali month of Phalgun has already begun, but the mango buds are yet to be surfaced.
   Sahidul Alam, plant protection specialist, of the Department of Agricultural Extension in the district said New Age that the mango trees in general, start budding in the middle of the Bengali month of Poush in a fertile land.
   But this year, the budding process in the district has been affected by heavy cold and dense fog.
   The temperature is fluctuating in the district in between 12 to 18 degree Celsius for the last few days, which has affected the budding of mango trees.
   Monika Alam, a housewife, at Sailkupa upazila said her eight mango tress did not bloomed till late January. Four trees were started to bloom while the numbers of flowers are very poor, she added.
   The officials of the DAE said the district had witnessed a bumper yield of mangoes in the previous year.
   Aidl Uddin, a mango farmer of Moheshpur, said only five trees out of his eleven plants provided flowers this season with least quantity of flowers.
   DAE officials said mainly two types of pests — Absila and Hopper — were primarily responsible for non-flowering of the mango trees.
   They said Absila usually blocks the budding of the relevant organs of a mango tree as it produces pest or gum while the Hopper eats up the tender buds.
   To protect mango trees from Absila and Hopper and to ensure optimum production of mango, the farmers need to spray pesticides at least once a season before November 15.
   But only a five per cent of the mango trees in the district were reportedly sprayed.
   Nural Islam, district training officer of the DAE, said most of the mango growers in the district were trained up to take care of mangoes trees.
   But most of the farmers are quite indifferent to take care of their plants although the taste of the mangoes of the areas is palatable to the consumers, he added.
   If the farmers were caring, the production of the mango would be doubled in the area which could meet a great portion of the demand of the country, he further added.
   Usually Lengra, Fazli, Khirsabhog, Gopalbhog, guti and Kohitur verities as well as hybrid verities like Amrapali, Mallika, Bhastara, Alfanso, Totapuri, Golapkhas, BAR-2, 3 and 4 are widely cultivated in the district.

Journalists in Khulna on Friday thanked the government for awarding Khulna-based journalists Manik Chandra Saha and Humayun Kabir Balu with Ekushey Padak for their contribution to journalism and the countrymen.
   They in a statement also demanded proper investigation into the cases filed in connection with their murders and punishment for the killers.
   Manik Chandra Saha, a senior staff correspondent of New Age and a former president of Khulna Press Club and Khulna Union of Journalists, was bombed to death at Chhota Mirzapur in the Khulna city on January 15, 2004.
   He was the Khulna divisional stringer of BBC Bangla Service and a correspondent of Ekushey Television.
   Khulna Press Club president Humayun Kabir Balu, also editor of Khulna-based daily The Janmabhumi, was bombed to death on June 27 of the same year in the Khulna city.
   Another statement issued by the Khulna Union of Journalists, signed by the union president, SM Habib, echoed the same voice.
   The Manik murder case is going on in the additional district and sessions judge’s court 2 in Khulna, where the next scheduled date for argument is February 25.
   All the accused in the case of Balu murder were acquitted by the Khulna speedy trial tribunal in February, 2008.

The Sylhet Metropolitan Police suspended a sub-inspector of police on Thursday for arresting two persons without proper investigation and submitting ‘baseless’ charge-sheets against them in a case.
   The suspended sub-inspector is Harunur Rashid of the Kotwali police station, said sources in the SMP.
   Zafar Ahmed, the plaintiff in the case, was also arrested following an order issued on Tuesday by the SMP’s commissioner, Syed Taufiq Uddin Ahmed, said sources.
   According to sources in the SMP, Zafar Ahmed of the Munshipara filed a case with mala fide intentions against two of his relatives, Abdul Hanif and Saju, of Pathantula on September 26 last year because of previous enmity.
   Harunur Rashid, who was made investigation officer in the case, arrested the two accused on February 12 after 18 days of filing the case without conducting any proper investigation into the allegation and subsequently also filed a charge-sheet in the court against them, said sources in SMP.
   But the allegation against the accused was found to be false during a further investigation. As a result the investigation officer of the case was suspended.
   The SMP commissioner said that punitive measures would be taken against Zafar Ahmed for filing the fabricated case and harassing the accused persons.

A housewife was found dead with her throat slit beside her house at Malipara of Kabirhat in Noakhali Friday morning.
   The deceased is Poly Rani Paul, 21, a resident of Malipara at Kabirhat. Her husband, Chhotan Paul, a barber, went into hiding after the incident. The police arrested Poly’s father-in-law Prity Ranjan Paul.
   The Kabirhat police officer-in-charge said Poly’s mother Khuku Rani Paul Thursday morning alleged Chhotan had forcibly taken Poly out of their house at Malipara.
   The police then looked for Poly in the house of Chhotan at Amarpur at Kabirhat, but found neither of them present in the house.
   The local residents found Poly dead besides the garden of their house Friday morning.
   The police sent the body to the Noakhali General Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination. A case was filed.
   Our Lalmonirhat correspondent reports Aditmari thana police recovered a body of an unidentified man from the river Teesta at Char Gobordhan of Lalmonirhat sadar upazila on Thursday.
   Local people informed the police after seeing a herd of dogs were eating the body in the char area.
   The police sent the body to the Lalmonirhat General Hospital morgue.
   The man might have been killed few days ago over previous enmity, the police suspected.

The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ashaduzzaman, of Khulna range, on Thursday inaugurated activities of the community traffic police in Jhenidah town.
   Addressing a rally on this occasion, the DIG
   said, ‘Police have become able to resist terrorism largely with the introduction of the community police.’
   ‘Now businessmen don’t have to pay tolls to the terrors, he added.
   He expected that now safe road will be ensured with the help of the community traffic police.
   While exchanging views at a meeting with the local administration officials, he said that no terror activities will be tolerated in the region.
   Besides, all sections of people will assist the community police in curbing crimes, he hoped.