The government has again planned to produce a rice variety which is rich in vitamin A, after the first move failed to yield satisfactory results. The variety is known as Golden Rice.
Jibon Krisna Biswas, director general of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), told the Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday that permission had already been sought from the National Committee on Bio-safety to import the genetically modified rice seed from IRRI.
“BRRI is trying to obtain the permission for the second time as we were not satisfied with the first trial,” he added.
In 2003, the government and the International Rice Research Institute inked a deal to produce Golden Rice in Bangladesh by modifying the gene of the country’s most popular Boro variety BRRI 29. The government imported two grams of seed from IRRI in 2005.
“We can initiate the greenhouse trial of the seed by January next year, provided the permission is obtained in time,” the BRRI DG said, adding that the same amount of seed would be imported again.
Crop varieties like Golden Rice, Bt brinjal and potatoes are transgenic crops, and need special approval from the bio-safety authorities for use in research, including field trials.
Solaiman Haider, deputy director of the Department of Environment and member secretary of the National Committee on Bio-safety, told the Dhaka Tribune that the application would be granted soon.
Golden Rice is reportedly capable of overcoming Vitamin A deficiency in pregnant mothers and children. The gene of the variety is extracted from a gene of maize that gives the rice grain a bright yellow colour – hence the name Golden Rice.
Jibon Krisna Biswas said producing the final seed for distribution among farmers would take another five years because of the number of processes involved, including greenhouse trial, confined laboratory trial and restricted field trial.
Similar researches and procedures to produce the variety are going on in the Philippines and Indonesia.
The objective to produce genetically modified crop varieties is to improve crop protection mechanism by introducing resistance against plant diseases caused by insects or viruses or through increased tolerance towards the use of herbicides.
In October last year, the government released four varieties of genetically modified brinjals – Bt Uttara, Bt Kajla, Bt Noyontara and Bt Isd 006 – with the condition of cultivating the crops on a limited scale.
Of the varieties, Bt Uttara was released in Rajshahi, Bt Kajla in Barisal, Bt Noyontara in Rangpur and Dhaka, and Bt Isd 006 in Pabna and Chittagong in compliance with bio-safety guidelines.