Agriculture experts at a farmers’ field day have stressed for expanded cultivation of flood tolerant rice to attain sustainable food security
through increasing rice production under adverse climate.
RDRS Bangladesh organised the occasion on crop cutting ceremony of flood tolerant variety BRRI dhan51 rice in the field of farmer Hazera Begum in village Kashinath under Sadar upazila in Lalmonirhat on Wednesday afternoon.A total of 250 farmers have cultivated flood tolerant BRRI dhan 51, 52
and BINA dhan 11 variety rice in 250 bigha land in the low-lying areas of Lalmonirhat district this season with the assistances of RDRS Bangladesh.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has been extending cooperation through the Stress Tolerant Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia (IRRI-STRASA) Project for expanded cultivation of these submergence tolerant rice varieties. Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension, Lalmonirhat Abdul Mazid attended the ceremony as the chief guest with Programme Manager (Field Coordination) of RDRS Bangladesh Ziaul Islam in the chair.Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Mohammad Nuruzzman, Agriculture Officer of RDRS Bangladesh Dilip Kumar Roy, Sub-assistant Agriculture Officer Fulchan Barman, addressed the function as the special guests.The speakers said cultivation of flood tolerant variety rice has already become popular among the farmers in Lalmonirhat like elsewhere in the country after repeated success they achieved in recent years to increase rice production under adverse climate. The farmers have cultivated flood tolerant variety BRRI dhan 51, BRRI dhan 52 and BINA dhan 11 rice, growing plants of which can sustain submergence up to 12-17 days during the seasonal flash floods.They stressed for expanded farming of flood tolerant rice in the low-lying land for avoiding risks of natural calamities like floods to produce more rice even when there were no flash floods or under
drought situations. The chief guest said Bangladesh has brighter prospect to overcome colossal crop losses being caused by floods every year to Aman crop through expanded farming of flood tolerant rice to keep food production increasing under adverse climate.Later, farmer Hazera Begum harvested her cultivated BRRI dhan 51 on 34 decimal land on the occasion and got excellent yield rate of 6.51 tonne of the rice variety per hectare. -BSS, Rangpur
