Dr Aynal Haque, BSS, Rajshahi
Environmental scientists and researchers underscored the need for taking a comprehensive approach to conserve the beneficial insects in the greater interest of maintaining a sound biodiversity and ecological balance.
They also said, the farmers destroy various species of the insects during the time of eliminating the destructive ones due to lack of adequate knowledge in this regard and laid stress on successful promotion of biological pest management system in the agro-fields.
“The destructive as well as the injurious insects can easily be controlled through promoting eco-friendly method of using organic fertilizer and indigenous insecticides instead of chemical ones,” Professor Sohrab Ali of Zoology Department of Rajshahi University said adding that importance should be given on conservation of eco-friendly insects.
He said, “All insects are not harmful for the crops but all the chemical pesticides or insecticides are more or less endangered for both human health and other beneficial insects”. So, we have to devise ways and means of controlling the harmful pest in hygienic way instead of poisoning. Besides, he said, insects are most valued in conservation for their ecological roles and observed that terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems would not work without insects. So, farmers should be imparted practical training on how to identify the insects whether it is beneficial or not. He said, priority should be given to some major issues like collection, preservation and identification of economically important insect fauna in Bangladesh in order to significant development in agriculture, forestry, human health, livestock, wildlife and environment.
Similarly, importance should also be given to discover and illustrate the diversity and composition of the insects’ fauna important for the rural people with special emphasis to agriculturally like pests and their predators and parasitoid, industrially like honey bee and lack, medically like vectors and others and environmentally like dung, beetle and pollinator important groups.
Terming the insect conservation scenario in Bangladesh as frustrating Professor Dr Wahedul Islam of RU Institute of Biological Sciences said, dissemination policies should be developed so that the rural people would be inspired to conserve one of the most important groups of natural resources in the country.
He said, steps should be taken to make the farmers habituating on adopting the invented integrated and biological pest management system and disseminate the attained knowledge among other neighboring farmers.
Director of Institute of Environmental Sciences of RU Professor Dr Sarwar Jahan said, bio-pest management system should be promoted among the growers to protect the beneficial insects from degradation for the sake of maintaining a sound environment that is very essential for the nation.
Referring to various aspects of the eco-friendly system Prof Jahan said it is very low cost than that of the pesticides. He, however, said importance should be given on more multiplication of the integrated system in the greater interest of making it successful among the farmers level.
Professor Dr Bidhan Chandra Das of RU Zoology Department referred to different dimensions of positive aspects of conserving the insects like paste, pollination and biological control agent, food and fiber production and ornamental and decorative. “We can not imagine any farming yield without any pollination and the insects are the vector of the pollination,” he said adding that honey, silk yearn and lac are produced by the insect secreation.
Courtesy: thebangladeshtoday.com
