Zinc enriched paddy harvest in Sylhet
Zinc enriched paddy harvest in Sylhet
Zinc enriched paddy farming has generated much hype among farmers of Dakshin Surma upazila under Sylhet, since the new variety gave them a good yield this year.
According to Chunu Miah, he harvested about 17 mounds of paddy on a bigha of land this year. Chunu cultivated the variety for the first time on an experimental basis. The variety BRI-62, was released by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) in 2013.
The crops were harvested at Noikhai village on Wednesday. About a hundred farmers of neighbouring villages attended the event as officials from the DAE spoke about the farming and preservation of the new variety seeds and the procedure to gain the highest yield.
District Agriculture Training Officer Abu Naser said, “BRRI scientists stated the BRI-62 paddy can be harvested within 100 to 105 days, after which the land can be used again during the winter for another crop. Had the farmers maintained their timetables accordingly, they would have had a better yield.”
Moglabazar union parishad chairman Mahmudul Haque chaired the event, while interested farmers shared their experiences with the new variety.
BRRI invented this breed, the world's first zinc enriched rice variety capable of fighting diarrhoea, pneumonia-induced child deaths and stunted growth as zinc plays an important role in preventing intestinal diseases, said Sylhet region's additional director of the Department of Agriculture, Kazi Nurul Islam.
Each kilogram of this rice will contain 19 milligrams of zinc and a protein percentage of 9 which will ensure nutrition and help prevent diseases.