BSS, Rangpur :
Experts at a farmers’ training course have stressed on optimum consumption of zinc-enriched BRRI dhan74 rice to meet nutritional demand and increase disease resistant capacities of the common people.
The opinion came at the training course organised by RDRS Bangladesh, an NGO, on Thursday with assistance of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) on “Zinc Rice Varieties and Benefit of Zinc” at its Training Centre in Nilphamari district town.
RDRS has been expanding the technology for farming, seed production, processing and storing of high zinc-enriched BRRI dhan74 rice as a local implementing partner of The HarvestPlus Challenge Programme.
The International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have been coordinating the technology dissemination process for enshrining quality seed production, processing and storing of high zinc rice.
Deputy Director of the DAE for Nilphamari Keramat Ali attended the course as chief guest with Programme Coordinator of RDRS Bangladesh for Nilphamari Khondker Md Rashedul Arefeen in the chair.
Nilphamari Sadar Syedpur Upazila Agriculture Officer Mazedul Islam, Agricultural Research and Development Officer of HarvestPlus Bangladesh Ruhul Amin Mandal and Agriculture Officer of RDRS Bangladesh for Nilphamari Sharifa Pasha also spoke.
Assistant Coordinator (Agriculture) of RDRS Bangladesh Mahbubul Alam delivered welcome speech in the course participated by 25 male and female farmers.
“RDRS Bangladesh distributed 225 kilogram seed of zinc-enriched BRRI dhan74 rice among 75 farmers who have cultivated the rice on 75 bighas of land in Nilphamari district alone during this Boro season,” he said.
“Since 2013, RDRS Bangladesh assisted 5,000 farmers in cultivating zinc-enriched BRRI dhan62, BRRI dhan64 and BRRI dhan74 rice varieties so far on 5,000 bighas of land during the Boro and Aman seasons in Nilphamari district,” Alam added.
Rashedul Arefeen said, “The common people in Bangladesh mainly depend on rice for meeting majority of their vitamin and mineral requirements though common rice does not contain enough micro-nutrients required for leading healthy and productive life.”
