Bt brinjal infested by insects and mite
A delegation of selected members of Coalition Against Bt Brinjal (Bt Begun Birodhi Morcha) visited the Bt brinjal plots at Salimpur Union,Upazila: Ishwardi ,District : Pabna,at 9:00-10:00 am, on 31 March 2014
The team members included: Farida khter, Executive Director,UBINIG; Advocate Syeda Rejwana
Hasan, Executive Director,Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), Mohidul Huque Khan,Member, Coalition Against Bt brinjal; Joynal Abedin Khan,Coordinator ,UBINIG,Pabna; Rehmuna Nurain, researcher, BELA; Arfan Alif, researcher, UBINIG; Mahidul Islam, correspondent, Shokaler Khobor, Ishwardi ; Pavel Partho,researcher and Dr. M.A.Sobhan,consultant,UBINIG.
The team visited the Bt brinjal plots of :
(1) Shumon Mia, Village : Varoi Mari, Union: Salimpur, Upozila: Ishwardi, District: Pabna
(2) Amjad Hossain (alias Peyara Amjad) , Village: Bakterpur, Union:Salimpur, Upozila: Ishwardi, District:Pabna
Many local farmers including Ibrahim Pramanik, Wazed Mia were present at the time of field visit of Bt brinjal by the members of Coalition Against Bt brinjal. But none of the concerned Bt brinjal farmers were available in the field, in their residence not even in the village, in spite of prior intimation to them.
It was learnt from the local farmers that Bt brinjal seedlings were transplanted in second week of March, 2014. The seedlings were transplanted in line with 75 cm (approx.) spacing between rows and 75 cm between plants in the rows. The plants were 15-27 cm tall at the time of visit. The plots were maintained neat and clean and in nice cultural condition. However, Brinjal plants in both the plots were infested by aphid, white fly and red mite .Most of the leaves of the brinjal plants were curled due to infestation of insects and mite. The Bt brinjal plot of Shumon Mia was relatively less affected by the insects and mite. But the scale of infestation by insects and mite in the field of Amjad Hossain was such that the plants may not survive up to bearing stage.