New video highlights sustainable solution of potato late blight in Bangladesh
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EmailNew video highlights sustainable solution of potato late blight in Bangladesh.
“I even sprayed after every three days, but I couldn’t save my land. Only God knows whether I can recompence my loss in next two years or not."
Mamunur Rashid a veteran smallholder farmer from Shibganj Upozila, Bogura, in Bangladesh explains his story behind the battle against late blight (LB) disease in potato.
He is one of the thousands of potato farmers in Bangladesh who grapple to control the fast spread of LB which can destroy an entire crop within a few days if chemical fungicides are not applied frequently.
Given the critical importance of potatoes to both the economy and food security, Farming Future Bangladesh the communication and advocacy partner of the Feed the Future Global Biotech Potato Partnership developed a video that highlights the devastating impact of LB disease on Bangladesh's potato farmers and offers hope through the development of 3R gene late blight-resistant (LBR) potato.
The video dives into the real-life experiences of farmers struggling with this destructive disease, which causes 25-57% of yield loss of total production and increases production costs due to the heavy reliance on chemical fungicides. The Global Biotech Potato Partnership's LBR confined field trials led by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) have been conducted in four designated locations in Bangladesh and show high resistance against LB disease. As a genetically modified crop, the 3R gene LBR potato will comply with biosafety regulations, and therefore the BARI scientists are collecting data for regulatory dossier submission.
The video is targeted to the entire potato value chain. Stakeholders consist of government organizations, regulators, civil society organizations, farmers, and consumers. This informative and visually engaging video portrays both the challenges and the solutions for Bangladesh’s potato industry, emphasizing the importance of adopting 3R gene LBR potato to secure farmers interest by reducing production cost as well as to ensure sustainable agricultural practice in Bangladesh.
