Saline-tolerant variety can help boost rice production

Cultivation of BR-47, a saline-tolerant rice variety, in the southern coastal region could bring about significant changes in rice production, Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque said yesterday.

"There are around 2.8 million hectares of agricultural land in the coastal districts. If high yielding varieties like BR-47 are developed, there could be a dramatic change in rice production," he said.

The minister was speaking as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of a two-day seminar titled 'Stress Tolerance Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia (STRASA)', at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in Gazipur.

Farmers have already started cultivating the BR-47 variety in limited scale, which has shown huge success, he said at the seminar organised by BRRI.

"You cannot increase the yield of the existing varieties to a great extent. Therefore, development of stress-tolerant varieties, which can tolerate drought or submergence, is important,” said the minister.

The developed countries need to invest more in advance agriculture research, he noted.

BRRI is on the way to develop submergence-tolerant and drought-tolerant varieties and will be able to release those in near future, said BRRI Director General Dr Firoze Shah Sikder.

Chairing the closing session, Bangladesh Agriculture University Vice Chancellor Dr Abdus Sattar Mondal said it is necessary to seriously look into the nutritional standards and livelihoods.

Referring to the recent fall of rice prices, Mondal said the government must provide incentives to farmers to maintain better rice production.

International Rice Research Institute Program Leader Dr David Mackill, Liaison Scientist for Bangladesh Dr MA Hamid Miah and STRASA South Asian Regional Project Coordinator Dr Uma Shankar Singh also spoke.