Drought tolerant paddy being grown in Rangpur

Drought tolerant paddy being grown in Rangpur

Our Correspondent

RANGPUR, Nov 14: Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) is cultivating a drought tolerant variety of paddy on trial basis in Rangpur and Panchagarh districts to face the adverse effect of climate change, as every year a vast tract of land in the country is getting dry.

“It is a drought tolerant and short duration paddy which the farmers of drought prone area of Bangladesh can cultivate to face the challenge of climate change”, RDRS agriculturist MG Neogi said.

“International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) had been trying to evolve the variety since long. It calls the variety as IR74371-70-1-1″, he said.

Good yield can be achieved if fertilisers are applied properly after testing the fertility of the land.

A hectare of land needs 15 Kg of phosphorus, 17 Kg of potash and 30 kg of Nitrogen fertilisers for good yield of the variety, he also said.

In India the farmers of drought prone states have been cultivating the rice variety massively since 2009 and the Indian government named the paddy as “Shabaji”, he added.

RDRS has undertaken the project on a trial basis and has already found the variety effective for cultivation on drought-prone dry land. The paddy has also been proved to have strong resistance against plant diseases and pest attack. The sheaf of the paddy is around 25 cm long and the size of the plant 85-90 cm. Around 4 tonnes of rice can be produced in one hectare of land, official sources said.

The farmers in drought prone areas are usually encouraged to cultivate the variety. They are advised to transplant 25 days old saplings in a well-prepared land. They need around 40 Kg seeds to grow saplings for a hectare of land, sources added.

source:http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=117617&date=2010-11-15