Farmers of nine upazilas in the district are worried of getting poor yield of Boro crops due to fungal disease blast attack during the harvesting season.
The fungal attack has spread all over the upazilas, according to sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) department.
Some 20,000 hectors of land have been affected by the fungal disease in the last three days. The worst affected areas are: Sadar, Raiganj, Chouhali, Ullapara, Belkuchi and Kamarkhand upazilas of the district.
In an instant measure, the DAE authorities cancelled the leave of all employees and staffs in effected upazilas for bringing the situation under control as well as to protect the paddy field from the attack, said Agriculturist Arshed Ali, deputy director of DAE.
The DAE sources said the blast disease affected the paddy fields as farmers did not put fertiliser in a proper way. Besides, the hot temperature in daylight and fall of the same in night has pushed up the epidemic.
Due to the fungal infection, the plants became white in colour, Agriculturist Arshed Ali told a news agency.
He advised the farmers to spray medicines on the paddy field to protect the corps, reports UNB.
Some 0.14 million hectors of land in the area have been brought under Boro cultivation this year.