BSS, Rajshahi :
Growers of the region, particularly the vast Barind tract, have become happy over getting satisfactory yield of BRRI-62, a zinc-enriched paddy variety, for the first time.
The newly released paddy variety has started gaining popularity among both farmers and consumers level in the region including the barind tract comprising 25 Upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapinawabgonj districts.
The newly innovated paddy variety has opened up a door of enormous prospects of mitigating zinc and protein deficiency besides fighting diarrhea and pneumonia-induced childhood deaths and stunting.
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) released the variety for all over the country last year after a latest breakthrough in research in the field. It’s a short-duration high-yielding variety of rice which could be cultivated in Aman season.
The BRRI breeders developed the hi-zinc rice with the support from Harvest Plus, which is a global bio-fortification mission.
Selim Hossain, a farmer of Potahar village under Godagari Upazila of the district said that he had cultivated Brridhan-62 on five bighas of land and the yield was optimistic. He had to spend Taka 5,000 for per bigha of land yielding 18 mounds of paddy. The variety is drought tolerant and rate of chemical fertilizer and pesticides application was comparatively lower.
Dr Khairul Bashar, Country Manager of Harvest Plus Bangladesh, told BSS that the BRRI-62 has been the most-discussed rice variety as it is a zinc-fortified breed and have been developed to meet the necessary requirement of micronutrient for a human body coupled with ensuring food security.
Each kilogram of rice of BRRI-62 contained 19 mg of zinc and 9 percent of protein which will ensure high nutrition and will play a significant role in prevention diseases; Zinc also play a vital role in prevention of liver-related diseases.
Zinc, iron and vitamin-A are the three most vital micronutrients, deficiency of which hampers children’s natural growth and decrease their disease prevention capacity.
In Bangladesh, over 40 percent children under five are stunted while an estimated 44 percent children of the same age group are at risk of zinc deficiency.
The variety is the world’s first-ever rice class developed in a bio-fortified system through breeding between local rice variety Zira Katari’ and BRRI-39, Dr Bashar said.
It’s a short duration rice variety which can be harvested within 100 days after plantation and this variety may give yield up to 4.5 to 6 tonnes per hectare if nurtured properly, he added.
It is expected that consumption of the rice enriched with zinc will highly remove malnutrition. Particularly, this rice will help protect child health, he said.
International Center for Tropical Agriculture and International Food Policy Research Institute are jointly implementing the harvest plus project aims at promoting the variety throughout the country.
Various government and non-government development organizations including Department of Agriculture Extension are supplementing the field level promotional activities in 50 districts of the country during the current Aman farming season.
Growers of the region, particularly the vast Barind tract, have become happy over getting satisfactory yield of BRRI-62, a zinc-enriched paddy variety, for the first time.
The newly released paddy variety has started gaining popularity among both farmers and consumers level in the region including the barind tract comprising 25 Upazilas of Rajshahi, Naogaon and Chapinawabgonj districts.
The newly innovated paddy variety has opened up a door of enormous prospects of mitigating zinc and protein deficiency besides fighting diarrhea and pneumonia-induced childhood deaths and stunting.
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) released the variety for all over the country last year after a latest breakthrough in research in the field. It’s a short-duration high-yielding variety of rice which could be cultivated in Aman season.
The BRRI breeders developed the hi-zinc rice with the support from Harvest Plus, which is a global bio-fortification mission.
Selim Hossain, a farmer of Potahar village under Godagari Upazila of the district said that he had cultivated Brridhan-62 on five bighas of land and the yield was optimistic. He had to spend Taka 5,000 for per bigha of land yielding 18 mounds of paddy. The variety is drought tolerant and rate of chemical fertilizer and pesticides application was comparatively lower.
Dr Khairul Bashar, Country Manager of Harvest Plus Bangladesh, told BSS that the BRRI-62 has been the most-discussed rice variety as it is a zinc-fortified breed and have been developed to meet the necessary requirement of micronutrient for a human body coupled with ensuring food security.
Each kilogram of rice of BRRI-62 contained 19 mg of zinc and 9 percent of protein which will ensure high nutrition and will play a significant role in prevention diseases; Zinc also play a vital role in prevention of liver-related diseases.
Zinc, iron and vitamin-A are the three most vital micronutrients, deficiency of which hampers children’s natural growth and decrease their disease prevention capacity.
In Bangladesh, over 40 percent children under five are stunted while an estimated 44 percent children of the same age group are at risk of zinc deficiency.
The variety is the world’s first-ever rice class developed in a bio-fortified system through breeding between local rice variety Zira Katari’ and BRRI-39, Dr Bashar said.
It’s a short duration rice variety which can be harvested within 100 days after plantation and this variety may give yield up to 4.5 to 6 tonnes per hectare if nurtured properly, he added.
It is expected that consumption of the rice enriched with zinc will highly remove malnutrition. Particularly, this rice will help protect child health, he said.
International Center for Tropical Agriculture and International Food Policy Research Institute are jointly implementing the harvest plus project aims at promoting the variety throughout the country.
Various government and non-government development organizations including Department of Agriculture Extension are supplementing the field level promotional activities in 50 districts of the country during the current Aman farming season.
