BSS, Rangpur :
Adoption of conservation agriculture (CA)-based technologies becomes popular bringing success in farming drought tolerant rice to increase rice production for attaining food security under adverse climate.
Experts said this at a farmers’ field day organised by RDRS Bangladesh to demonstrate farming technologies of drought tolerant BRRI dhan56 rice adopting CA-based Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) with Power Tiller Operated Seeder (PTOS) technologies in village Matiakura of Dinajpur on Wednesday afternoon.
The NGO has been expanding cultivation of drought tolerant rice with assistance of Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre under its Sustainable and Resilient Farming System Intensification Project.
With chairman of local Mohanpur union Dinesh Mohanta in the chair, Senior Scientific Officer of Wheat Research Institute at Nashipur in Dinajpur Dr Akbar Hossain attended the occasion and inaugurated harvesting of BRRI dhan56 as the chief guest.
Programme Coordinator (Filed Coordination) of RDRS Bangladesh for Dinajpur Tapan Kumar Saha and President of Mohanpur Union Federation Punoti Murmu addressed the occasion as the special guests.
Senior Agriculture Officer of RDRS Bangladesh Anup Kumar Ghosh, Agriculture Officer of its Dinajpur unit Syeda Nazma Parveen, Community Organisers Habibur Rahman, Raju Chandra Das and Filed Assistants of the NGO were present.
Local farmers Manuel Murdy and Rabi Murdy narrated their success achieved in farming drought tolerant variety BRRI dhan56 rice using the CA-based DSR and PTOS technologies in presence of 155 male and female farmers of the area.
They also described the benefits of using these CA-based technologies to get excellent yields of the short duration drought tolerant rice at reduced costs for farming of the crop and engaging less number of farm-labours.
Anup Kumar Ghosh narrated necessity for expanded cultivation of drought tolerant rice using of the cost effective CA-based technologies to increase rice production under adverse climate.
The speakers stressed for expanded cultivation of BRRI dhan56 rice for increasing rice production at reduced costs to make agriculture more profitable for the farmers side by side ensuring food security. They elaborately narrated farming technology for drought tolerant variety BRRI dhan56 rice to harvest it within only 105-110 days in getting better yield at reduced costs even under drought-like situations.
The chief guest said early harvest of the short duration rice enables farmers to cultivate Kharif-1 maize on the same field followed wheat farming on the same land or using the CA-based technologies to get more yield and better profits at reduced costs and labours.
