THE second consecutive success of the scientists of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) raised hopes among the farmers and the public health experts as well who are often seen expressing their concern about the stunted growth of our children – the future generation. Recently, BRRI scientists have succeeded in producing another ‘rice variety’ with higher zinc content and greater yield potentials just after a year of releasing the world’s first zinc-enriched rice variety. The new variety, as reported, will be more nutritious than the previous edition. Last year, BRRI scientists released high-zinc rice – BRRI dhan-62 that contains around 19 to 20 ppm zinc against 14 to 16 ppm in other high-yielding previous rice varieties. The latest ‘ready-for-release’ rice breed BRRI dhan – 64 will contain zinc as high as 25 ppm. Both these new varieties are capable of fighting diarrhoea and pneumonia-induced childhood diseases which are also fatal in their effects alongside with causing stunting.
BRRI breeders developed both BRRI dhan-62 and BRRI dhan-64 through application of biological fortification (biofortification), a process in which plant breeders search for seeds having high nutritional value among existing varieties of crops. The breeders developed the varieties with support from HarvestPlus, a global biofortification mission launched back in 2004 under the Washington-based global agro-science coordinating body Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research. They crossbred the high-nutrient varieties with high-yielding varieties to provide zinc-enriched seeds having high yields and increased nutritional value. BRRI dhan-62 is effective on Aman rice and BRRI dhan-64 on Boro rice. As per the mandate of the international collaboration, the varieties are now expected to reach Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam for experiments.
Nearly 40 percent of under five (U-5) children in Bangladesh are stunted, a far-reaching menace to the society while an estimated 44 percent children of the same age group are at risk of zinc deficiency. Prevalence of stunted children is high in low literacy and lower income groups, which results from poor food and malnutrition intake. Experts hold the view that it should not be treated as an individual problem of families because it affects the nation as a whole in terms of productivity loss and a slow down in the GDP growth. Stunted children may also cause a generational problem by reproducing malnourished and physically impaired children in their adulthood causing drainage to the nation’s health budget, in addition to impacting its socio-economic growth. Therefore, the newly developed hi-zinc line – BRRI dhan-64 will obviously be more beneficial to child health. Furthermore, BRRI dhan-64 – has yield potentials of over 6 metric tons (MT) per hectare while the average yield of earlier variety is 4.2 MT per hectare.
We expect, the new variety will help to stop the hunger and help build a strong, healthy nation. We ask the government to take necessary initiatives for wide scale cultivation of the BRRI dhan-64. We also thank the breeders/ scientists associated with the project for their brilliant feat.
