The contribution of Frog in agriculture.

Original Image : indiatoday.in

Frogs help in maintaining the balance of our natural environment. In addition, frogs protect crops by eating insects, spiders, etc. in the crop field, as a result, there is no need to apply additional pesticides to the field. So the fertility of the land is not lost. Frogs play the most important role in killing mosquitoes.

Worldwide there are about 4,360 species of frogs under 28 genera and 338 genera. About 40 species of frogs are found in Bangladesh. Almost all these species are protected under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012. Although the diet of frogs varies by species, most frogs feed on insects. This is why frogs are called 'natural insect killers'.

 

- Frogs help maintain the natural balance and are of great benefit to humans. The founding executive director and ecologist of Save the Frog in the United States. Kerry Krieger said in a statement that frogs are essential for Bangladesh's rice-based agriculture. According to him, the role of frogs in protecting biodiversity is one of them. The use of fertilizers and pesticides in the cultivation of various crops including rice has put the health of animals including humans at serious risk. It is known that frogs naturally protect people from the outbreak of these diseases by eating many dangerous disease-causing insects like dengue, milk disease, cholera, typhoid, anthrax, malaria.

 

- A frog can eat half its body weight (500+) of insects per day. Due to this, the demand for frog conservation has become strong to protect the environment. Again, frogs play a role in crop protection and production by eating harmful pests and insects. That's why frogs are also called as 'natural pesticides'.

 

- Disappointing news is that due to overuse of pesticides and deforestation, the number of frogs that protect biodiversity is relatively low. Frog habitats and breeding shelters are constantly being destroyed. Decomposing frog excreta and remains on agricultural land increases soil fertility and crop productivity. Crop grasshoppers, green leafhoppers, brown grasshoppers, caterpillars and yellow caterpillars benefit by eating insects. As a result, there is no need to use more pesticides. Frogs benefit humans by eating mosquitoes and small harmful organisms.

 

- Amphibian frogs act as indicators of natural balance. They roam freely in both water and land. According to various research data, frogs are the fastest disappearing animals in the world. According to research data, 200 species of frogs have disappeared from the world since 1980. According to the 2015 Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are 49 species of frogs in Bangladesh. Among them, 10 species of frogs are endangered. Among the endangered frogs, two species are critically endangered, three species are endangered and five species are critically endangered. 27 species are in somewhat alarming condition. 6 species are not endangered.

 

- Environmental imbalance, water pollution and climate change - mainly due to these three reasons, frogs are in danger.

 

- A frog eats about 3000 insects and pests in a week as Denik 500. Frogs are a natural pest control.

 

But, this beneficial friend of the environment is being destroyed due to excessive and unbridled use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Besides, other beneficial insects are also being destroyed. As a result, serious damage is being done to the ecology of the environment. That's why sometimes spraying insecticides doesn't work. We are directly and indirectly responsible for this. Alternative sources of pesticides should be used to get rid of them. Even if used organic pesticides should be used. Medical college students are also reducing some frogs for their medical research. In this case, consider whether to use a substitute for frogs or use them in a limited way. Special care should be taken to ensure that frogs do not die during research. Some greedy people are indiscriminately killing frogs and eating them as meat. Eating frogs is forbidden in Islam. Some frogs are also harmful to the kidneys. Before the monsoon season, large quantities of native fish (Koi, Tangra, Punti, Khailsa, Taki, Shail, Gajar, Shrimp, Mala, Dhela etc.) were available in Khalebil. Now the native fish is not so much to be seen. Even 12/15 years ago these fishes were available in abundance in Khalebil. I have not seen Gujar fish for many years. Many kids of today's generation have never seen this fish. Some people buy medium size cultivated koi at the rate of 500/700+ ৳ kg as they do not recognize the native koi. Not a single frog can be seen in urban areas. During the rainy season, except in village areas, not even the frogs can be heard.

 

- If it was possible to make the rivers and canals in urban areas suitable for frogs to live in, then the mosquito infestation would be reduced to a large extent. But not easily possible. Because every day various types of harmful and toxic substances mixed with the waste of industrial factories, hospitals, households etc. are mixing in the water and the water is getting polluted. Which is harmful to human health! Frogs cannot live there easily.

 

- More than 200 of the 4,360 species of frogs in the world are now extinct. Frogs are the most extinct in South Asia. British ecologists fear that at least 2,000 species of frogs will disappear from the world in the next twenty years. A group of researchers from Britain conducted a frog census 10 years ago to protect this amphibian. They struggled to figure out how many frogs survived the battle with nature. Then at some point they stopped the census. 

References: Collected from various scientific and health journals