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Consumers are falling for chemically grown eye-candy pineapples that look bigger and brighter than the naturally farmed ones but actually taste bland and have less nutrient content.This trend is hurting the farmers who are not using excessive chemicals while growing the fruit.
To get a firsthand experience of the market trend, this correspondent visited Jalchhatra Bazar in Tangail’s Madhupur on Monday.
Over 1.25 lakh tonnes of pineapple are produced in Madhupur a year, making it one of the country’s biggest pineapple producing areas, according to Upazila Agriculture Officer Hazrat Ali.
There, he found one Nazimuddin who had bought a pair of big-sized pineapple for Tk 70.
On request, when he cut one, he’s utterly disappointed to find that the otherwise delicious fruit tasted like water. It didn’t even have the usual aroma of a naturally grown pineapple.
“Why did you buy these pineapples?” asked the reporter.
“Because these looked bigger and better,” answered Nazimuddin.
The same is the case with most buyers.
“Actually consumers everywhere like to buy big and bright pineapples,” said Rintu Miah, a wholesaler who had come to Jalchhatra from Pabna to buy the fruit.
This tendency among the consumers is encouraging farmers to go for using more chemicals in farming the fruit.
“I had to sale my chemical-free pineapple at Tk 10 apiece while a neighbour of mine sold his chemically grown fruits at Tk 20 to Tk 25,” said a pineapple grower.
“They are making more money than I am. I might just have to follow their path now. What else can I do?” he said helplessly.
Harmful chemicals such as Ethophen and Ethrel are widely used by the pineapple farmers in Madhupur region to give the fruits a bigger size and better look and to ripen immature fruits in order to make more profit.
But the excessive use of these chemicals in fruits can cause vomiting, dizziness, liver and kidney complications and even cancer, according to local officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
“If farmers want, they can use growth hormones in little amount before the plants start flowering,” said Agriculture Officer Hazrat Ali.
“But most farmers use the chemicals indiscriminately and whenever they feel like. This is bad,” he added.
DAE Deputy Director Abul Hashim of Tangail said they were holding different motivational and training programmes to create awareness among the local pineapple growers against the unprescribed use of chemicals.
Courtesy Of The Daily Star
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]]>Bithi Akter Eva, the 18-year-old arrested for abetting the gang rape of a teenage girl in Madhupur, has admitted handing over the victim to the rapists.
Bithi and four other accused — Nuruzzaman alias Gada, 42, Shajahan Ali, 40, Moniruzzaman Moni, 39, and Harunur Rashid Harun, 27, — were arrested on December 31.
She was sent to Tangail District Jail yesterday on completion of her one-day remand.
Bithi told police that she along with the victim was at Nuruzzaman’s house in Bokarbaid village of Madhupur on December 6 night, Mozibor Rahman, investigation officer of the gang rape case, said.
Bithi, who had previous connection with the four, took the girl to a video shoot in Madhupur on December 6, promising her a role in a drama.
After the shooting at Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation, the two came to Nuruzzaman’s.
“As per the plan, Nuruzzaman had sent his wife and children to somewhere else. He along with the three others raped the girl while Bithi was present in the house that night.”
On December 7, Bithi took the victim to her house in Mohela village of Kalihati the following day. Spending two days with her, the 15-year-old left alone for home, some three kilometres away.
Mozibor, also officer-in-charge of Madhupur Police Station, said, “Interrogating the five, we found some surprising facts about the incident. But we cannot disclose those now for the sake of probe.”
Talking to The Daily Star, Bithi’s mother Bedana Begum said the girl came with her daughter from Madhupur around 3:00pm on December 7, stayed at her house until around 9:00am on December 9.
Fifteen days later, Bithi went to the girl’s place to talk about a shooting scheduled for the next day.
Later in the day, she called her uncle over mobile phone to say that she had been kept confined to the house and the girl’s family members were beating her.
“Informed, I along with my younger brother and his brother-in-law went to the house. The brother of the girl and his men beat us up too,” Bedana said.
“They demanded Tk 1 lakh from us and threatened that if we failed to give the money, they will hand over Bithi to police.
“Later, they freed my brother and his brother-in-law. My brother returned around 3:00am with Tk 10,000 and handed over the money to the family in presence of local community leaders.
“We apologised to the family for what happened to the girl. Later at night, they freed us,” she added.
Contacted, the victim’s brother outright rejected Bedana Begum’s version and said they want sever punishment to the violators and the abettor.
-With The Daily Star input
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Md Bahaz Ali Fakir, an English teacher of a secondary school, has not taken even a day’s leave for the past 33 years, setting an example of great devotion to his profession.Teaching at Shaheed Smrity High School and College in Tangail’s Madhupur upazila, Bahaz, 55, has been off work only on weekends and national holidays over the years, despite many difficulties along the way.
Headmaster of the school Mohammad Bazlur Rashid Khan said other teachers in the institution have followed Bahaz’s footsteps and promised to work without taking leave.
The headmaster narrated how Bahaz came to work even on September 14 — the day his mother died — after keeping the body at his yard in the morning.
“After signing the [attendance] register, Bahaz took the day’s first class and returned to his house. But surprisingly, he came back to school right after his mother’s burial and went on to take his scheduled class,” said the headmaster.
He added, “Bahaz, however, had to give in and return home at his colleagues’ insistence on the day.”
“When his father Abdul Hamid Fakir died on a Friday in 2003, Bahaz took all his scheduled classes as usual the following day,” the headmaster said.
The founder of the school, established in 1972, declared a bonus for the school staff in 1987. According to the declaration, a teacher or other staff member who has not skipped work for a single day in a year is entitled to a month’s additional salary.
“Bahaz Ali has been getting the bonus every year ever since,” said Mohammad Abdul Malek, assistant headmaster of the school and also former teacher of Bahaz. “I am really proud of my student….”
“Most of the students here are from rural areas,” said Bahaz. “And I try to serve them in the best way possible. As many as 103 students, out of 260, obtained A+ in English in the last year’s SSC examination.”
He is very popular among students, said Asma Rafia, a class-VIII student of the school. “He does not hesitate to spend some extra time and make us understand lessons in the classroom.”
Some other students said as their teacher never misses a class, they also try not to miss any.
Bahaz lives in a tin-shed house in Tengri area with his wife, a son, and two daughters.
His elder daughter Aysha Siddiqua Badhon, who passed the HSC examination last year, said, “We respect our father’s sincerity and we are proud of him.”
Courtesy of The Daily Star
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]]>A pilot officer died and a squadron leader was injured when a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed in Madhupur upazila of Tangail yesterday. Pilot Officer Shariful Haque succumbed to his injuries at Combined Military Hospital in Ghatail, reports our correspondent in Tangail.
Squadron Leader Muhammad Mamunur Rashid is receiving treatment at the hospital, an Inter-Services Public Relations press release said.
“Mamun sustained only minor cuts and bruises,” MA Masud, additional superintendent of police of Tangail, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Mohammad Ali, a witness, said the aircraft had circled twice over a paddy field before crashing into a marsh of Mohishmara Ghonapara area around 12:30pm.
He said that after Mamun ejected from the plane and reached the ground with his parachute, he called in locals to rescue Sharif from the wreckage of the Aero L-39 Albatros aircraft. Troops from the Ghatail Cantonment later took the injured men to the hospital.
The ISPR press release, however, said both the pilots had ejected from the plane before it crashed.
It also said a committee had been formed to investigate the accident.
Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operation and Training) Air-Vice Marshal Abu Esrar visited the scene along with other BAF high officials, the ISPR press release added.
Sharif’s death brings the number of BAF pilots killed in air crashes over the last three years to three.
CRASHES IN THE PAST
On December 20, 2010, two BAF pilots–squadron leaders Ashraf Ibne Ahmed and Mohammad Mahmudul Haque–were killed when their aircraft crashed near the main entrance of Barisal Airport.
On October 22, 2009, a BAF training aircraft crashed while trying to land at an airport in Arulia of Bogra. Two pilots–squadron leaders Jamal Uddin Ahmed and AAMM Shamsujjahan–were injured.
On September 23, 2010, a BAF fighter jet crashed into the Karnaphuli river near Patenga Boat Club. Pilot Flight Lieutenant Ahmed Sanjid escaped by ejecting.
On October 10, 2011, a fighter plane of Bangladesh Air Force crashed into Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong city. Flight Lt Muntasin managed to eject from the plane.
In addition on March 9, 2009, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 55 Infantry Division and Jessore Area Commander Maj Gen Rafiqul Islam and pilot Lt Col Md Shahidul Islam lost their lives when an army helicopter crashed into Rouha under Kalihati upazila in Tangail.
-With The Daily Star input
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