Although pumpkin farming has changed the socioeconomic condition of many farmers in the district over the past few years,  a crop virus named mosaic has adversely affected cultivation this year. The virus has beset pumpkin crops and is at risk of invading other nearby yields. Not only is this alarming for the farmers, but also for seasonal honey extractors, as pumpkin fields are one of their primary sources for honey. Tajul Islam, a pumpkin farmer in Sadar upazila's Nargun village said although his yield was significant this year, it all started to fade in colour, including roots and leaves. Shah Alam, another farmer from the same village, said pumpkins are usually a secondary crop, but the recent losses he incurred in potato farming turned to surprising profits selling pumpkins. However, the advent of the mosaic virus is also putting his dreams of profit in jeopardy, he added. Abdul Latif, a farmer from neighbouring Baliati village, says the pumpkin seeds they got from distributors this season might have caused this viral outbreak. Assistance and suggestions from the local Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) have not helped in healing the crops either, he complained. Many farmers said they had not experienced such a crop disease before. This is posing a big risk to those who invested heavily in pumpkin farming. As said earlier, this virus outbreak is also adversely affecting honey farmers, as their bees are sitting idle in their box hives, instead of collecting honey from pumpkin fields. Instead, the extractors are having to purchase sugar to feed the bees, adding more to their expenditure. A farmer in the district said it takes Tk12,000 to cultivate a bigha's worth of pumpkins, including fertilizers and pesticides. This has prompted many farmers to post complaints against the guilty pumpkin seed distributors at the Sadar upazila agriculture office. Anisur Rahman, Sadar upazila agriculture officer, said they have not received any medicine to combat the mosaic crop disease. He said he also received a letter of complaint from farmers, but has no jurisdiction to take any action against the guilty parties. Local DAE sources said over 1,070 hectares of land was used to grow pumpkins in the district this year. Aftab Uddin, deputy director at the local DAE office, said an exceptional disease which they had not anticipated attacked pumpkin farms in the region. However, the DAE will conduct training sessions to tackle this in the near future. Source - https://www.dhakatribune.com