THE agricultural scientists of the country have made a major breakthrough in developing two other types of High Yielding Variety (HYV) rice, which are especially suited to fight famine-like situation called monga in some northern districts of the country. These varieties of rice called BR-11 dhan-33 and BINA dhan-7 mature in less than four months, 115 days to be exact, and thus can be harvested one month ahead of the customary aman crop of the HYV group, namely the BR-11, which the framers have been growing since long.
This is certainly great news for the poor, landless and marginal farmers who had to remain idle for non-availability of on-farm jobs after mid-September when the aman plantation does usually end. For then usually begins the two gruelling months of monga forcing the farm labourers to eat up their food stock, sell their assets or get snared into the bondage of the loan sharks of the locality. Thus losing everything, many of them had to look for off-farm jobs in other districts.
Earlier, the government and the non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) would take various other measures to create short-term employment and launch feeding programmes to help out the people during these lean months. Against this backdrop, the newly developed HYV seed now show a more sustainable way to tackle the situation through introducing another rice cropping season before the next one begins.
Adding another crop to the existing ones will therefore not only come to the rescue of the monga-hit farm labourers, it would also go to augment the total volume of food grains produced in the country.
The scientists behind this advancement in the field of agricultural research have therefore achieved an admirable feat for which they deserve the laurels due to them. It has to be added here that through earlier discoveries in the field of rice research, the scientists had developed other HYV seeds that had gone a long way in reducing food deficit and strengthening the foundation of food security in the country.
While appreciating our scientists for their contribution to the nation in solving its overriding problems like increasing crop production and job creation, it is hoped that they would also put their talents into developing crops that can adapt themselves to the conditions of climate change now staring the nation in the face. At the same time, the government, too, should come in a big way to bolster agricultural research in all possible ways.