On the occasion of the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) released the Bangabandhu-100 paddy variety last year.
Primarily, it was cultivated on 200 hectares of land in five upazilas of Gopalganj. Due to the high yield (7.5 tons per hectare), more farmers have opted for cultivating this variety this year, instead of BRRI-28, raising the area of land to 465 hectares.
Nasir Uddin, 55, a farmer from Dumaria village in Tungipara, said he got the paddy seeds and fertilizers free from the Gopalganj regional office of the BRRI. “Then I planted this rice and got a bumper yield. There is no disease in this variety.”
He also said: “The farmer of the land next to me cultivated rice of BRRI-28 variety. He did not get a good yield due to pest attacks.”
Farmer Dilip Biswas, 65, of Dighlia village of Kotalipara said he was pleased with the yield of Bangabandhu-100 paddy. “Seeing the paddy of my land, many neighbouring farmers have expressed interest in planting this paddy next year.”
“It is a high-yielding Ufshi variety of rice. There is no disease. Farmers benefit by cultivating this paddy as the yield is quite good. Moreover, they get a high price by selling this fine rice, which is rich in zinc and is tasty,” said Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director A Quader Sardar.
The new variety has been cultivated on 196 hectares in Tungipara Upazila, 190 hectares in Kotalipara, 35 hectares in Muksudpur, 26 hectares in Sadar Upazila, and 18 hectares in Kashiani.
The Kotalipara DAE officials have harvested and measured the sample crop of Bangabandhu-100 paddy produced in different villages, including Poltana village of Sadulyapur Union.
Kotalipara Upazila Agriculture Officer Nitul Roy said: “We saw that the yield of this rice per hectare was 7.5 tons after cutting the sample crop. Farmers have expressed interest in increasing the cultivation of this variety from next year.”
BRRI Gopalganj Regional Office Chief and Senior Scientific Officer Mohammad Zahidul Islam told Dhaka Tribune that they had distributed five tons of seeds and necessary fertilizers free of charge for the expansion of the Bangabandhu-100 variety. Four tons of seeds were distributed in Gopalganj and the rest in Bagerhat and Narail districts.
“We have trained the farmers and visited the paddy fields. So the farmers got a bumper yield by planting this paddy. This zinc-enriched rice helps develop intelligence. So we are working on expanding the cultivation of this variety.”
He said the BRRI-28 is a variety developed about 30 years ago. Therefore, diseases are more common in this variety.
“For this reason, we are discouraging farmers from cultivating BRRI-28 paddy. The country's rice production will increase if the cultivation of Bangabandhu-100 is expanded,” he added.