The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) with the help of two organisations has successfully field-tested a drought-tolerant rice variety in the northern part of the country.
The IRRI in collaboration with Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) had been experimenting on the rice variety over the last two years and grown the rice this Aman season in northern districts.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided the funds for the experiment under the IRRI project, Stress-Tolerant Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia (STRASA).
Thirty-six farmers of eight districts in Rangpur division cultivated the rice developed by the IRRI. Many of them have already harvested the crop and are satisfied with the yield.
Kafil Uddin from Panchagarh said he harvested nearly 4,000 kilograms of rice from one hectare of land this season.
The farmer said he usually had to irrigate paddy fields from July to September due to low rainfall during the period. But the cultivation of the drought-tolerant rice saved him a considerable amount of money.
Mosharraf Mia of Tupamari in Nilphamari said, “I could not cultivate aman previously as rainwater does not stay in my relatively high paddy field unless it rains heavily. But this season the drought-tolerant rice has earned me a good harvest despite a little rain.”
Rabeka Sultana of Kathalbari in Kurigram had grown the rice variety on her one acre of land and harvested nearly 1,600 kgs of rice.
Rabeka said she cultivated BR-11 in the past. She hardly got 800-1,000 kgs of rice for failing to irrigate the field when there were no rain.
MA Bari, country manager of STRASA, said experiment on rice had been done earlier in India’s drought-prone regions and farmers were benefited through it.
“The Indian government released seeds of the drought-tolerant rice, Shabaghi, in 2009,” he said.
Bari said drought affects around 1 lakh hectares of land, mostly in Barindra and the north, during the aman season.
“More areas in the country are likely to suffer drought due to climate change. It is high time Bangladesh introduced a drought-tolerant variety of rice to farmers,” said the country director.
Bari said the BRRI and the RDRS had the rice cultivated in Barindra and Rangpur-Dinajpur regions.
MG Neogi, head of agriculture of RDRS, said some areas in Rangpur, Kurigram, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh witness very little rainfall during the aman season due to climate change compelling farmers to irrigate paddy fields.
“If farmers in the areas cultivate this rice, they won’t have to spend money on irrigation,” Neogi said.
He said normally aman paddy withers if lands remain dry for two weeks. But the drought-tolerant paddy plants remain unaffected in the same situation for 15 to 23 days.
Dr Hamid, liaison officer of IRRI in Bangladesh, said, “We observed that drought in October had affected aman yield adversely for the last few years. But the experimental cultivation showed that the drought-tolerant rice remained unaffected.”
He said the BRRI applied to the National Seed Board for the release of seeds of the rice as high yielding variety of drought-tolerant rice.
If the Board releases it as a variety, it will be the first drought-tolerant rice in Bangladesh.
