Orange farming takes a hit from disease outbreak

Orange farming has received a shuttering blow in Juri upazila of Moulvibazar district this season thanks to widespread outbreak of a certain type of disease in recent weeks.

Prospect for a good yield started diminishing at the time when the farmers were preparing to harvest the pricey fruit, insiders said.

Upazilas like Juri, Kulaura and Srimangal in Moulvibazar district are widely known for production of the juicy fruit.

In the same way, farmers extensively cultivate orange in highland or hillocks of Beanibazar, Jaintapur and Golapganj upazilas of Sylhet district in addition to some areas of Habiganj and Sunamganj districts.

A part of the regional demand is met with the local yield.

A number of farmers said due to spread of the disease, some of the new farmers are worried about possible production loss.

Along with the old plants, the new orange plants were seen dying, even before growing up, some farmers said.

If the situation continues, the total yield would suffer fall this season, officials said admitting some farmers even may give up the farming amid pest attack for consecutive years.

Juri Upazila Agriculture Office sources said there are 95 orange orchards extending over about 100 hectares of land in the upazila where Khasi and Nagpuri varieties of the fruit are cultivated prominently.

Of the total 62 hectares in Goalbari union only, the plantations are affected with the new disease, causing sudden deaths of the plants.

Orange farmer Shofiqur Uddin of Domabari village said of his 1,000 plants, the old ones were dying while some new ones were also affected. He has now decided not to continue farming of the fruit in the coming years.

Another farmer from Lalchhara village said some white pests suck water from the orange plants in the first year, the leaves turn yellow in the second year while plants die in the following year.

Although the size of orange remains normal at the beginning of the pest attack, it becomes smaller in the second year and gets smallest in the third year, farmers said.

Already 300 to 400 plants have already died in his garden, the farmer added.

Upazila Agriculture Office sources said they had detected some problems after visiting some plantations getting informed from the farmers.

Since most of the orange plantations are in the hills, aggregation of pest attack is higher here due to inclement weather.

The farmers have been supplied pesticides and some of them are now getting benefits of it.

Farmers felt that a team from the Agriculture Research Council should visit the affected plantations.

Contacted, Additional Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Sylhet Matiuzzaman told this correspondent that he was informed about the matter and effective steps would be taken after field visit soon.

It is worth mentioning, orange was cultivated on over 500 hectares of land in Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj and Sunamganj districts this year.

The fruit's yield got an upward trend after a project on orange farming was launched over 15 years ago.

However, a new programme should be taken for advanced technology transfer to ensure highest yield of the fruit in the region, said some DAE officials.

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