Expansion, development of varieties moving at snail’s pace

Bangladesh is progressing very slowly in expanding stress tolerant rice variants when it needs them the most to cope up with the pace of climate change impacts.

Government agencies have developed 36 rice varieties in the past two decades, keeping in mind that the country is at a specific risk from the climate change impacts including rise of sea level, salinity intrusion, drought, excessive rainfall and tidal surge, which massively hamper food production.

These variants can tolerate conditions like salinity, drought and submergence but they are still struggling to gain popularity among the farmers across the country.

Of the 36 varieties, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) developed 29 and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) developed seven.

Among the BRRI’s varieties, 12 are designed to tolerate salinity, four cold, three droughts, three submergence, three tidal submergence and one can tolerate both salinity and submergence. The other three can tolerate stagnant flood, bacterial blight and semi-deep, respectively.

Among the BINA’s varieties, two are salinity resistant, two flood resistant, and three can tolerate drought.

Moreover, Bangladesh Agriculture University and a few private seed companies have also developed some similar varieties and are working on several others.

According to BRRI data, more than 2 million hectares of land is facing the threat of submergence, 2 million hectares cold, and 1 million each is facing the threat of salinity, drought and tidal submergence, respectively.

Land and production

According to data from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), BINA’s varieties cultivated on 32,380 hectares of land yielded some 1.26 lakh tonnes of rice in FY2020-21. The average yield was 3.32 tonnes per hectare.

According to BRRI, its salinity tolerant varieties covered 35 per cent land in saline-prone areas and increased the yield by 12 per cent.

Flood and submergence tolerant varieties cover 26 per cent land in flood prone and low land areas, which increased the national yield by 9 per cent. Drought tolerant varieties are being cultivated in 12 per cent land in drought prone areas and it increased the yield by 10 per cent.

According to DAE, three of BRRI’s salinity tolerant varieties are being cultivated on 35,312 hectares of land in 14 costal districts. Three drought tolerant varieties cultivated on 12,789 hectares yielded 49,687 tonnes of rice and the average yield was 4.14 tonnes per hectare.

The BRRI-62 variety can escape drought since it can be harvested 10-12 days earlier. This Aman variety has been cultivated on 4,943 hectares of land and yielded 19,098 tonnes, with 3.86 tonnes per hectare. It also contains high protein and 19 milligram zinc per kg. Another variety, BRRI-51 is also being cultivated in the Barind region.

Around 3.76 crore tonnes of rice were produced in FY2020-21, as farmers are getting a good amount of yield from the stress tolerant varieties around the country.

Abul Khayer, a farmer at Subarnachar, Noakhali, cultivated flood tolerant variety BRRI-51 to protect his harvest from the deluge. “Flooding, which occurs regularly here, cannot damage this variant which also cannot be affected by salinity. Thus, the risk of yield loss is very low.”

“Most of the farmers in this area cultivate these varieties because they give the highest amount of yield,” he added.

He cultivated on around 6 hectares of land and the average yield was around 5.5 tonnes per hectare. Although, the expected yield of this variety in between 4-5 tonnes per hectare, according to BRRI.

Why expansion is slow?

The stress tolerant varieties occupied a little stake when the country’s farmers cultivated rice on 117 lakh hectares of land in FY2020-21.

Insiders said expansion depends on the stress tolerance limit of a variety and farmers’ experience in cultivating it. While farmers want to observe a variety for some years before cultivation, the varieties have to be stress tolerant completely as well.

Talking to The Business Post, Shamsun Nahar Begum, the chief scientific officer and head of the Plant Breeding Division at BINA, said, “Scientists like us can do the research. The main task of expansion has to be done by the DAE.”

The DAE’s Field Service Wing Director (Routine Charge) Habibur Rahaman Chowdhury said, “Farmers take time to change the varieties they have been cultivating for years. Some varieties perform good while some don’t. But we have a plan for extensive expansion of all kind of stress tolerate varieties.”

“However, a variety can be called salinity tolerant but it won’t grow in saline water. It can fight a certain amount salinity in the soil but it needs fresh water irrigation. So, it can be cultivated only on the lands in coastal areas where fresh water irrigation is available,” he added.

Scientists have said that they need massive technology support and more manpower for further research to increase the tolerance limit of the varieties.

For example, some of the flood tolerant varieties can tackle submergence for 10 days while few others can tolerate the inundation for up to 25 days.

“We are working to enhance the tolerance level. In general, a variety can tolerate the impacts of flood for 12 or 17 days. But if the flood’s duration is longer than that, the farmers will lose his crop and they will not be willing to cultivate that variety next year,” said Khandakar Md Iftekharuddaula, the chief scientific officer and head of Plant Breeding Division at BRRI.

“To improve the tolerance level, we need huge technological support and more active DAE field officers,” he added.

Food security

Experts have said that necessary measures need to be taken now because the stress will intensify further in future. Food security is not only the availability of food but also a matter of availability of nutritious foods and access to them.

“Global warming is increasing every year and the stresses will get more intense. We are already feeling that. In the coming days, food security will be the main challenge against climate impacts.

“So, we must adopt different kind of stress tolerant rice varieties along with other crops,” said Zakir Hossain Khan, the executive director of NGO Change Initiatives.

Md Khalilur Rahman, former director general of Bangladesh National Nutrition Council (BNCC), said, “Stress tolerant varieties need to be enriched of micronutrients such as zinc, iron and vitamins. The government must give policy support to benefit from biotechnology and quickly expand the field.”

BRRI has developed seven high yield varieties of rice that contain high protein, zinc and iron to tackle malnutrition. Another variety that contains beta carotene to meet Vitamin A deficiency in the human body is waiting for final approval from the authorities.

According to BNNC, among the country’s children under five, 28 per cent suffer from stunting, 23 per cent from being underweight and 10 per cent from wasting or low weight-for-height.

At least 23 districts have higher stunting and wasting rates among children than the national average while 25 districts have higher underweight rates.