Develop eco-friendly rice varieties
Agriculture and Water Resources Adviser CS Karim yesterday said the country needs to develop different eco-friendly rice varieties locally to meet the challenges of global climate change.
He said this at the inaugural session of the daylong workshop on 'Brac in food autarky: Distributors, dealers and farmers' workshop-2008' organised by Brac at Brac Centre Inn in the city.
He called on the agronomists to conduct more positive researches for developing such varieties that will address the country's environmental problems and reduce dependency on imported rice seeds.
Monga (famine-like situation) in north Bengal, saline concentration in soil in coastal areas and early and flash floods in haor areas are great problems for rice cultivation in the country, he said, adding that foreign varieties, regardless of hybrid or other varieties, cannot properly address these problems as foreign rich researchers are not accurately aware of the gravity of the local problems.
He lauded the efforts of Bangladesh Rich Research Institute (BRRI), which developed BRRI-33 variety to address the monga-afflicted problems.
Speakers at the workshop said farmers in the monga-prone northern districts can start harvesting of BRRI-33 from first week of October to November, creating job opportunities for farm labourers when monga hits the area with its full gravity.
Researchers should concentrate all their efforts on developing such more varieties, they said, adding that some varieties have been introduced locally to address saline concentration in coastal districts and flash and early floods in haor areas but these are not enough.
The adviser said, “During the acute food shortage period after the Sidr attacked the country, we went to different countries but failed to buy foods,” adding, “We have to produce our food ourselves if we want to survive as food shortage appears as an international phenomenon.”
He also called on the farmers to increase the use of organic fertiliser instead of chemical one to keep the soil condition sound.
Director General (seed wing) of the agriculture ministry Anwar Faruq said at present, 40 companies of the country import hybrid seeds of 60 varieties.
He urged the private seed importers and seed dealers not to sell sub-standard seeds to farmers, as it will hamper food production greatly.
Brac Executive Director Dr Mahbub Hossen said it has developed a hybrid rice variety so far and another two varieties to be released.
Apart from Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC), Brac only produces hybrid seeds in the country for farmers, he added.
The country needs to spend a lot of foreign currencies on seed import, the speakers said, adding that it must reduce dependency on foreign seeds and must develop a hybrid technology in the country.
With Brac executive director in the chair, Channel-i Director Shykh Siraj and Md Aminul Alam of Brac also addressed the workshop.
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