Innovative rice farming in the north

Back in 2014, people living in the low-lying districts of northern Bangladesh suffered from a devastating flood, submerging traditional Aman rice varieties for 15 days, causing full or partial damage.

Most of the low-lying areas of Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari and part of Rangpur district are affected by these recent flash-floods, causing huge losses in agriculture in around fifty thousand households while more than fifty thousand hectares of Aman rice crops are damaged in three districts of Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Gaibandha, said sources. According to them, the loss is around 1.5 lakh tons of paddy, which is quite alarming.

Some of the affected farmers who live in Teesta and Dharla, said that this is now a common crisis because of climate change. Flash flood is becoming a big threat for Aman rice production during monsoon seasons. Aman rice is one of the most important crops in Bangladesh and connected with the nation's food security.

Due to climate changes, flash-floods occur almost every year during monsoon and heavy rainfall. These flash floods occur twice or thrice in the same monsoon, said an affected farmer Azizar Rahman, 65, from the flood affected village of Kalmati in Lalmonirhat sadar. He also said, “On the other hand, due to heavy silt deposition, most of the rivers have lost the free-flows they once had in the past which causes reduction in the depth and breadth of rivers year after year.”

“Just after continuous rainfall during monsoon, these rivers overflow their banks and flow into the adjoining fields. As a result, most of the standing rice fields are affected for about 1-2 weeks, causing severe damage of Aman rice crops,” said another affected farmer, Altaf Hossain, 58, at Char Kulaghat village in Lalmonirhat sadar. 

Agrculture officials from three districts said that due to changes in climate, farmers lose around one million tons of rice grain almost every monsoon, leading to food shortage in the country while more than one million hectares of Aman rice fields are affected partially or fully by flash-floods throughout the country.

Official sources at NGO RDRS Bangladesh said that Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA), under joint collaboration with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has developed submergence tolerant rice varieties which can withstand submergence for up to 15 days whereas other existing rice varieties succumb to submergence within 4 to 6 days. The submergence tolerant rice varieties have the submergence gene (Sub1) that helps crops to renew its growth after the water recedes.

The Agriculture and Environment Coordinator of NGO RDRS Bangladesh Mamunur Rashid said that considering the geographical vulnerability, the STRASA (Stress Tolerant Rice in Africa and South-Asia) project, which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, carried out a number of demonstration trials of this submergence tolerant rice varieties in a couple of fields from flash-flood affected areas. “Immediately after the water receded, these submergence tolerant rice plants started forming new shoots and thus proving that this new rice variety can survive even if fully submerged for fifteen days”, he said. 

Deputy Director AED Safayet Hossain of Lalmonirhat said, “After observing the outstanding performance, farmers of the flood-prone areas are now very much optimistic about these submergence tolerant rice varieties”.