Although there is a huge demand for litchi, people have turned their backs due to crop failure and high prices. Due to the prolonged heat wave, litchi pods in most litchi orchards have been scorched and damaged by the sun; has black color.

Due to extreme heat wave and lack of rain in the last few days, most of the litchi tree in the litchi orchard have dropped; As a result, the gardens have now become empty of litchi, whereas a few days ago, the litchi orchards in the area were full of litchi pods.

Mangalbaria is the litchi producing village of Pakundia upazila of Kishoreganj district. The litchi of this Mangalbaria village has a great reputation in the country and abroad.

In reality a few trees have a small amount of litchi. Many people are selling litchi under the trees. People come from different areas. 100 Litchi are being sold for Tk. 1000. Some are taking a small amount while others have lost interest to buy after hearing the price.

Shah Bakul, who came from Manohardi, said, 'I came with interest but was disappointed. Fewer litchis this time. There are high prices. I am thinking of buying litchi from the area instead.'

Rajib Mahmud from Kapasia said, "The price is high, so I bought 50 litchi for 500 taka." Just to eat I wanted to take it but had to change my decision because of the price

It is known that about two hundred years ago, a police officer of Mangalbaria village from distant China first brought this variety of litchi seedlings to this village. Later, after the fame of this litchi spread, the seedlings collected by the ‘pen’ method spread in the village and litchi cultivation started.

Abdul Majid, a litchi farmer of Mangalbaria village, said, "We have two hundred litchi trees of our own. I also bought hundreds of litchi trees. Litchi plants were full of buds at the beginning of the season. But this time due to natural calamities and the extreme heat of the last few days, most of the litchi trees in the litchi garden have fallen. As a result, the trees in the litchi garden are empty of litchi. As a result, we are now in trouble.

He said that Tk. 8 to Tk. 10 crore worth of litchi is sold from this village every year, but this time the litchi farmers are facing severe losses.

In this regard, Pakundia Upazila Agriculture Officer Noor –e- Alam said that there are about 5 thousand litchi trees in Mangalbaria village. Litchi worth Tk. 8 to Tk. 10 crore  used to be sold from this village, but this time due to natural hot weather, litchi farmers have faced a lot of losses like other crops. Before the start of the season, we have distributed pamphlets on litchi cultivation issues through yard meetings with litchi growers in the area. Also 4 Assistant Agricultural Officers were instructed to take stock of litchi plantations and provide regular advice to litchi growers. Litchi farmers have faced losses due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Kishoreganj Agriculture Extension Department (Khamar Bari) Deputy Director Md. Abdus Sattar said, severe drought and lack of proper irrigation facilities have adversely affected the yield of Mangalbariya variety of litchi this time. Farmers have to play a strategic role keeping in mind the issue of irrigation facilities. 

For the first time in the country, the genome sequence of local catfish and the identification of possible genes that determine the sex of male and female catfish have been successful in the fisheries biology and genetics department of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) led by Professor Dr. Taslima Khanam and her research team.

Professor and researcher Dr. Taslima Khanam said the sequencing work was completed at the University of Tokyo in Japan in 2022-2024 with funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. This sequence made possible the identification of potential sex-determining genes using draft genomes, a first for any native fish.

She also said that the results of the research project have been presented at an international scientific conference organized by the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science. The research team led by Dr. Taslima Khanam included a group of researchers from Bangladesh, Japan and Sweden.

Dr. Taslima Khanam said about the purpose of her research, in some fish, differences in physical growth between male and female fish can be observed. Catfish is one example of this whereas growth of female catfish is 40-60 percent higher than male fish. Production of monosex cat fish like Tilapia is considered as one of the ways to increase the commercial production of this fish. Identification of sex-determining genes is essential for successful production of monosex catfish.

She also said that the detection of sex-determining genes will enable the production of monosex catfish in a short time through marker-assisted selection instead of conventional methods. In addition, identification of male and female fish would be possible long before catfish become reproductive, which would speed up the traditional selective breeding process. It will be important to identify not only sex-determining genes from the catfish genome, but also genes responsible for other traits such as physical growth, disease resistance and survival in adverse environments.

BAU Vice –Chancellor Professor Dr. Emdadul Haque Chowdhury said that catfish is known as food for patients. We know that male fish are usually stronger than female fish. But it is the opposite in catfish. In the case of catfish, female fish are stronger. If the female fish are selected more, more production can be done. It can easily be done by determining the gender.

There was a fire at the cotton research center in Rangpur city. At this time, several cotton sacks were burnt. Two fire service units brought the fire under control.

The incident took place at the cotton warehouse on Wednesday (May 15) around 10:30 pm.

According to the relevant sources, a fire broke out in the cotton godown at around 10:30 pm. It initially tries to control. But as the fire was not under control, they informed the fire service and they managed to bring it under control.

Shawkat Ali, assistant director of fire service, said that there was a paved godown house on the second floor of the Cotton Development Board, and as there was a fire, they informed us. On receiving information, two units rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire. Nothing but cotton sacks was burned.

He said, how the fire started cannot be said without investigation.

In Bangladesh, the tradition of organizing the national celebrations of poet Rabindranath Tagore and National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in their memorial places is going to disappear? For a long time there has been a tradition of organizing these birth anniversaries for a few days in grandways, but in recent years, due to various reasons, Rabindra and Nazrul Jayanti celebrations are no longer held on that scale. Instead of open spaces outside Dhaka, the scope of these events is being confined to the auditoriums on a limited scale in the capital.

On the occasion of the birth and death of these two pioneers of Bengali literature and culture, grand events were held to highlight their extensive works and stories of their lives. Outside the capital, at the district level, at the memorial places of the poets, there was a long period of decoration around this event. The government or the head of state used to attend. But as the national celebrations of Rabindra and Nazrul Jayanti are getting stuck in the capital city of Dhaka due to various excuses, the participation of the President or the Prime Minister has also decreased.

Stating that there will be no difference in the 125th birth anniversary of the national poet, AFM Hayatullah, Executive Director of the poet Nazrul Institute, told Barta24.com, "The national level events of Rabindra and Nazrul Jayanti are celebrated by the Ministry of Culture. And death anniversaries are organized by certain institutions. For example, since Kabi Nazrul Institute is established in the name of Kabi, the program of Nazrul's death anniversary is organized by the institute.

He said, this year is being organized in the same way as it is celebrated in other years. This year's inauguration ceremony will begin at 4 pm on May 25 (2024) at the National Museum. Rabindra and Nazrul birth anniversaries were held at the memorial places of the poets. This time too, but the national level programs will not be outside Dhaka.

Districts outside Dhaka are Nazrul's memorials; Nazrul has visited and stayed in such districts as Mymensingh, Cumilla, Manikganj, Chattogram, Chuadanga, because of kinship or friendship. Rabindra's birth anniversary ceremony at the national level has also been held in Dhaka, Nazrul's birth anniversary will also be held in Dhaka. The government's reason for not celebrating Nazrul's birth anniversary outside Dhaka is that elections are being held in the upazilas of the country at this time. Especially the district administration helps the ministry in organizing these. District administrations will be busy with election work. Nazrul may pay less attention to the Jayanti celebrations. The purpose of this program to reach the people, it will not be fully successful, so it has been decided to hold these events in Dhaka - said this senior official of the government.

Those concerned said that there is a high-level committee to celebrate the birth anniversary of Rabindra and Nazrul at the national level. It also includes important people from the cultural sphere of the country. It was decided in the committee meeting on April 2 (2024) that Rabindra Jayanti will be in Shilpakala Academy and Nazrul Jayanti will be in Bangla Academy.

It has been reported that some renovation work is going on in Bangla Academy, so there may be electricity problem. It has been decided to hold a three-day long national program of Nazrul Jayanti in the main auditorium of the National Museum instead of organizing this event on the open stage due to the fear of rain and storm.

According to related sources, Awami League presidium member and former minister Matia Chowdhury MP will be the chief guest on the opening day on May 25 at 4 pm. Khalil Ahmad, secretary of the Ministry of Culture, will be the special guest. Mofidul Haque, Trustee of Liberation War Museum, will be the commemorative speaker. Minister of State for Culture Nahid Izhar Khan, MP will preside. After the discussion program, there will be a cultural program with performances by children with special needs.

The chief guest of the second day of the event on May 26 will be Sajjadul Hasan, MP, President of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. Artist Khairul Anam Shakeel, president of the board of trustees of Kabi Nazrul Institute, will be the special guest. Director General of National Museum Md. Kamruzzaman will preside. On May 27, the chief guest of the third day of the program will be Prime Minister's Advisor on Education and Culture Kamal Abdul Nasser Chowdhury, Artist Sadia Afrin Mallick will be the special guest. AFM Hayatullah, Executive Director of Kabi Nazrul Institute, will be the commemorative speaker on the last day.

A member of the National Committee for the celebration of Rabindra and Nazrul Jayanti of the Ministry of Culture was asked to know the reason for not maintaining the traditional style in organizing the Jayanti in recent years, he refused to talk about it. However, Rabindra and Nazrul fans say, in this time of decay of values, Rabindranath and Nazrul's literary and biographical views are on our way. On their birth and death days, in a colorful way was organized outside Dhaka at the memorial places of the poets, which accelerated the cultural practices across the country. But confining this event to the auditorium of the capital is definitely part of stifling the development of our culture. They also think it is important to identify those who are working carefully behind it.