During my recent visit to India I came across a news item in the front page of the ‘Anandabazar Patrika’ under the caption “Bhater Patei Bisher Aarot, Bhorosha Muktasri”, in English which means-“Poinson godown in the very plate of boiled rice, hope only Muktasri”. It has been reported that certain popular high yielding rice varieties including IR-36, IR-64, Minikit cultivated in some parts of West Bengal have been contaminated with arsenic poison through irrigational underground water and soil moisture. According to WHO, 126 microgram of arsenic is the maximum daily tolerable limit for a man weighing 60 kg. But the boiled rice consumed daily by the people of the area contains more than 200 microgram of arsenic. This is indeed an alarming situation.
Meanwhile the good news is that the State Agricultural Research Station at Chuchura has succeeded in developing rice variety resistant to arsenic intake/contamination which the West Bengal Chief Minister Momota Banarjee named as ‘Muktasri’.
As I was going through the news I thought about the arsenic status of our country. I think, arsenic content of not only rice but other crops should be tested in laboratory to ascertain whether the arsenic level in food crops plants and their fruits are within the limit.
At the same time, sharing of knowledge and experience between agricultural scientists of Bangladesh and India should be enhanced.
Department of Agricultural Extension &
Information System,
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University,
Dhaka.
